Knights of the Founders
by JayColin
Summary: SLASH AU Harry/OMC Rewrite of 'Return of the Heirs'. It's Harry's 6th year and with the Ministry finally accepting that Voldemort is back, changes are coming for Harry and for Hogwarts... question is will they be enough? Especially when not everything is as it appears... Rated for future chapters.
1. Memories

The Knights of the Founders  
By J.C. Vascardi

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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and the Possibility of Mpreg (I'm currently undecided)

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Chapter One:

Memories

-o-0-o-

As the moon rose above Privet Drive, a teenage boy with a mess of raven black hair sat alone in his small upstairs bedroom. If anyone had been in the room with him, they would have heard the sniffles and seen the tears that occasionally ran down his cheeks as he looked through a leather-bound photo album. For the boy, fifteen-year-old Harry James Potter, looking through this album was never easy as it only served to remind him of everyone that he'd lost. Contained within were pictures of his parents, who'd died when he was only a little over a year old. There were also pictures of his godfather who had died just a few short months ago. The pictures that brought the most tears to Harry's eyes, however, were those of a handsome, brown-haired, grey-eyed young man of seventeen who had died way too young. This young man was Cedric Diggory, wizard, Hufflepuff, and Harry's first love.

Harry sobbed softly as his fingers traced over one of the moving pictures of his beloved, if secret, boyfriend. Very few people had known that Harry and Cedric were dating during what would have been Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, which was Cedric's sixth. They weren't ashamed of their relationship, quite the contrary, but they did believe that people would think it was unfair if they found out that Hogwarts' two Triwizard Champions were more than friends. So, they kept their relationship a secret, meeting up in town during Hogsmeade weekends or sneaking off together to the Room of Requirement.

The picture Harry was currently looking at was taken the weekend before the Third Task of the Triwizard. Cedric and Harry had been in the Room of Requirement, which had taken on the look of a tropical beach. It had been Cedric who had imagined that particular destination for the room to create, basing it on the island of Martinique where he'd gone with his parents a few times when he was younger. He'd always enjoyed it and wanted to share it with Harry.

Despite the sadness he felt at looking at Cedric's picture, Harry couldn't help but grin and shake his head as he thought, "Aunt Petunia would be furious if she saw this picture." The reason he thought that was because while his aunt had usually always spoiled his cousin Dudley rotten, giving him whatever he wanted, there was one thing that she refused to allow him to have. That one thing was pornography of any kind. She had nearly struck Dudley for the first time in his life when she found a copy of Playboy in his sock drawer while putting away laundry. Petunia managed to restrain herself but had marched Dudley downstairs, by the ear no less, and forced him to burn it in the fireplace. Once it was done, she made it clear that if he ever brought that filth into her home again it would be the last mistake he ever made. So why would Harry's aunt be furious if she saw the picture of Cedric? Simply put it was because this particular picture showed Cedric sunbathing on a beach, completely naked.

"Oh Cedric," Harry thought, as he sniffed and wiped a tear from his eye. "Damn Wormtail and Voldemort. Damn them both to the Hells for taking you from me."

Harry's painful trip down memory lane was cut short moments later when a loud voice yelled from downstairs, "BOY! GET DOWN HERE!"

Closing the photo album and stowing it under the loose floorboard beneath his bed, Harry grabbed a tissue and dried the tear tracks from his face, blew his nose, and headed out of the room. He hoped that his relatives wouldn't see any trace that he'd been crying, as he knew that would only make them happy. Arriving downstairs, he found his only living family, the Dursleys, seated in the living room watching the television show that they usually watched following dinner. The dirty dishes were still on the table, along with the scraps of leftovers that his obese Uncle Vernon and equally obese cousin Dudley didn't eat. With their backs turned to him, all engrossed in the television show they were watching, none of them saw Harry, let alone any hint that he'd been crying. His uncle obviously knew he was there, however, as it wasn't long before he said, "Clear the dishes, boy."

Nodding silently and restraining the urge to sigh, Harry set to the task of clearing the dishes and taking them into the kitchen to be washed. All that was left from dinner was a single slice of cold roast beef and a dinner roll, which Harry set aside as he did the dishes. Once they were all washed, dried, and stacked neatly back in the cupboards, Harry tore open the roll and put the roast beef inside of it. He'd been deprived of both breakfast and lunch due to not finishing his earlier chores in as timely a manner as the Dursleys desired. So, the food tasted good going down, although it was definitely a very meager dinner. Harry was used to it, however, as the Dursleys had never fed him much to begin with. He wasn't starving, however, as unbeknownst to his relatives his friend Ron's mother sent packages of food along with the frequent letters that Ron, and his brothers, Fred and George, sent over the summer.

Of course, there was another person who sent him frequent letters that also included food. That person was sixteen-year-old Noah Diggory, who was Cedric's younger brother. Harry had gotten to know Noah while he was dating Cedric, but they hadn't hung out that much until after Cedric's untimely passing. Now, this wasn't because Harry didn't like Noah, because he did, but it's that Harry had had a tendency to spend the majority of his free time with Cedric. Being in love, that was probably natural. Once Cedric had died, however, Harry and Noah did gravitate more towards each other, as they were both in mourning over the loss and thus they had become good friends. Of course, towards the end of Harry's fifth year, which had been Noah's sixth, Noah mustered his courage and confessed to Harry that he'd like to be more than friends. Harry said he wasn't ready for another relationship, which at the time, was very true. He was still trying to get over losing Cedric, as it had been just over a year at that point and he wasn't ready to date anyone.

Having now had the summer to think about it, however, Harry had come to a few conclusions. One was that he knew that Cedric would want him to be happy and part of that meant that he find someone to love. Although, Harry was still very unsure how his late boyfriend would feel if that person was his younger brother. Technically, they were only step-brothers as Cedric's father had married Noah's mother when Cedric was 12 and Noah was 10, but in the five years between that time and Cedric's death, they'd developed a strong bond as they'd both always wanted a brother, but had never had one prior to that. Even without spending a ton of time with Noah while Cedric was alive, Harry could see that they were close and genuinely loved each other, despite only knowing each other for about seven years. The first two being when their parents were dating and the last five after they'd gotten married.

The second thing Harry realized was that he had to admit that he did find Noah to be attractive. Certainly not in the same way as Cedric, but the attraction was still present. If he were completely honest with himself, he knew it was there for the last couple months of school, but had steadfastly ignored it as he simply hadn't been ready to date anyone. Of course, a part of him still felt that he wasn't ready, but Noah had made it clear that if Harry was willing to be more than friends with him, they could go as slow as Harry wanted. And if friendship was all Harry was comfortable with, then Noah assured him he could be content with that and would do his level best to get over his feelings, as he didn't want anything to be awkward between them.

Harry sighed and shook his head to clear it of the confusing thoughts that were going through it and had been for the last few weeks. Popping the last bit of his meager dinner into his mouth, he had just finished chewing when his Aunt Petunia's voice carried into the kitchen. "Boy, get out here."

With a deep breath, Harry walked into the living room and asked, "Yes, Aunt Petunia?"

It was Uncle Vernon who answered. "I got a raise at work and I'm taking the family on holiday to the south of France."

'Let me guess, I'm not invited,' Harry thought. Not that he really wanted to go on vacation with his relatives. He wouldn't mind visiting France and many other places at some point, as not counting the trips to Martinique he'd taken with Cedric in the Room of Requirement, Harry had never been anywhere outside of the United Kingdom. A fact which annoyed him to no end, as all of his friends had taken at least one vacation with their families over the summers. Making it worse was the fact that his friends liked talking about them, thus forcing Harry to listen to all the details, before he in turn had to come up with a reason for why he never had his own vacation stories to tell. Ron and Hermione knew, of course, and thus didn't pester him about it as much, but the same couldn't be said for the others in his year.

"You're not invited," Dudley said, in a rather dull voice, that Harry noted didn't have as much venom as he usually would have expected from his cousin. Of course, Harry had noticed that Dudley seemed to be making an effort to be if not nicer to him, then to at least not be quite as mean as he had been in the past. Looking back on the time he'd spent with his cousin, Harry had pinpointed that the change seemed to happen after the Dementors had attacked Privet Drive. He wasn't sure what Dudley might have seen while the foul creatures were around him, but he'd obviously seen something that had changed him. Of course, Harry could understand how that might be true, because he still occasionally had nightmares about what he saw anytime a Dementor was around.

Harry didn't say anything in response to the confirmation, because he'd expected it and his Uncle Vernon was talking almost as soon as Dudley finished. "Now the only problem is what we're going to do with you, boy. I don't want your unnatural self alone in my house. We already called Mrs. Figg and she can't take you, and your Aunt Marjorie is going with us to France."

'Thank Merlin for that,' Harry thought. His opinion of Mrs. Figg had changed a bit since his trial before the Wizengamot last year, as he now knew that she was a squib. So, he wouldn't have minded staying with her quite as much, although her cats were still a bit much to deal with. And, of course, if he was given the choice, he'd much rather chew off his own arm than go and stay with Aunt Marge, Ripper, and her other bulldogs – all of whom, thanks to lots of reinforcement from Marge, hated Harry with a passion. After a moment of silence, Harry said, "If you'll allow me to let Hedwig out of her cage, I can send out a few letters. I have some friends from school that would probably let me come and stay with them for the rest of the summer."

"So, we wouldn't see you again until next summer?" Vernon asked, raising an eyebrow as he considered that.

"Correct," Harry answered.

After a moment of silence, Vernon shook his head and said, "Fine, you can let the bloody bird out of its cage and send your letters. But I'm warning you now, boy. We're leaving in four days. If you haven't made arrangements by then, it'll be the street for you when we lock up the house and leave. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied, before he headed up to his room to get started on his letters.

-o-0-o-

An hour later, Harry was opening his bedroom window and attaching two letters to Hedwig's leg. "Take these to Ron and Noah, okay girl?" After a second of thought, he added, "Best go to Noah's first though, as you know Ron will be jealous if he sees the letter for Noah."

Hedwig nodded her head and hooted in understanding, as Harry fed her an owl treat and petted her white plumage. A moment later, Hedwig spread her wings and flew out the window, leaving Harry to wonder just who would respond first. Not for the first time, he thought that it would be nice if Ron wasn't jealous whenever Harry seemed to be making friends with someone that wasn't him. Ron didn't seem to mind Harry being friends with Hermione, mainly because Harry suspected that Ron was harboring romantic feelings for her that he was just too tongue-tied to tell her about. As for everyone else though, Harry had seen the looks that Ron had given people behind their backs when it appeared that they were getting too close to his friend.

'I'm not your possession, Ron,' Harry thought to himself. He could understand that Ron felt like he was always competing with his older brothers and that there was nothing special he could do because his brothers had already done it before. This was, in turn, why Harry suspected that Ron was so possessive about their friendship. Ron was the first of the Weasleys to make friends with Harry and being the first and best friend of The Boy Who Lived was Ron's claim to fame, so to speak. So, he didn't really like it when Harry began making other friends. 'I'll have to have a talk with him at some point,' Harry thought with a sigh. 'Hopefully without the drama that tends to ensue whenever I say or do something that he doesn't like.' Thinking back to the Triwizard Tournament, Harry thought, 'Or when he only thinks I've done something.'

Being just after eight according to the digital clock on his bedside table, Harry stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed. It was still pretty early to be going to bed, but Harry didn't have anything better to do and he knew that he'd probably be expected to be up at the crack of dawn to make breakfast for the Dursleys, before working all day in the garden. So, it was best for him to get as much sleep as possible while he could.

It was about four hours later that Harry awoke with a start, after feeling a hand on his shoulder shaking him and a soft voice calling out, "Harry? Harry, are you awake?"

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes and reaching over to his nightstand for his glasses, Harry put them on and then pulled the chain on his bedside lamp. He was quite shocked to find a pajama-clad Dudley standing in his room.

"Did you want something, Dudley?" Harry asked.

Dudley was silent for a moment, before he nodded and pulled the chair from Harry's desk over as quietly as he possibly could and sat down. "I was wondering about that night."

Harry was confused as he asked, "What night?"

"When the whats its attacked," Dudley asked. "You got a warning letter from your school."

"Oh, you mean the Dementors," Harry said and Dudley nodded. "And the letter wasn't from my school. It was from the Ministry."

"The Ministry?"

"Yeah, Dudley, the Ministry for Magic," Harry said. "It's magical Britain's government body, led by the Minister for Magic, who's sort of like the Prime Minister."

"Ah, okay," Dudley said. "What were those Dementor things again? I remember that Mum recognized what they were, but I don't remember what she said."

"They guard Azkaban - the wizard's prison," Harry replied. "They leave you feeling cold and depressed, because they feed on your happy memories, leaving you with only the less than happy ones. And they can also kiss you, which would be a very bad thing."

"Why?"

"Because they suck out your soul when they do that," Harry answered. "Doesn't kill you, but it does leave you as a soulless shell. You wouldn't be able to walk, talk, or basically do anything. It's irreversible and there's no effective treatment, so you'd be like that until your body failed and you die."

Dudley shivered and remained silent for a moment, as Harry wondered why Dudley had come into his room after midnight to talk to him about the magical world. He was usually terrified of magic, ever since Hagrid had given him that pig's tail. The twins' Ton-Tongue Toffees hadn't helped matters either, of course. Harry was just about to ask his cousin why he'd woke him up when Dudley said, "When the Dementors were attacking, I saw myself for what I really am."

A confused Harry turned his head to one side as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"A spoiled and cruel bully," Dudley answered. "To several people, but to you most of all, Harry." With a sigh, he added, "You never really did anything to deserve it either. I suppose the driving force behind my being so mean to you over the years is because Mum and Dad seemed to like it when I was and I'd get rewarded."

Harry knew only too well that his aunt and uncle had rewarded Dudley several times over the years for being mean to him. So, he could understand how Dudley might think it was the right thing to do, with his parents giving him positive reinforcement for doing it. Not to mention watching his parents treating Harry like he was a lower life form. Given the circumstances, it was probably only natural that Dudley turned into the holy terror that he'd become.

After a moment of silence, Harry asked, "Is that why you seem to be leaving me alone more?"

Dudley nodded. "I regret the way I've treated you, Harry." Looking around him for a moment, almost as if he was afraid someone might be watching or listening, he then added in almost a whisper, "I'm sorry."

Harry remained quiet for a moment as he just looked at his cousin, who squirmed a bit under his green-eyed gaze. With a sigh, he said, "I forgive you, Dudley."

Dudley's face brightened at that, before turning somber once more as he asked, "There is something I've always wondered."

"What's that?"

"I know what I saw around those Dementor things," Dudley answered. "But, what did you see?"

'It's a fair question, I suppose,' Harry thought, as he took a moment to gather his thoughts, before he said, "My parents' last moments."

"What?" Dudley asked, in an unsure tone. Whatever he'd been expecting his cousin to say, that was clearly not it.

"I can hear my Dad talking," Harry said. "He says 'He's here - take Harry and run, I'll hold him off.' Mum took me up to my nursery and the next thing I know I'm in my crib with my Mum standing in front of me."

"Who's he?" Dudley interrupted.

"Voldemort," Harry answered. "He's a very evil wizard who has killed or tortured hundreds of people. My parents were members of a group that fought against him. Anyway, by the time that he was up in my nursery, he'd already killed my Dad and my Mum was pleading with him to spare me and take her instead. That's what I hear and see whenever Dementors are around - my parents' voices, Voldemort laughing, and a flash of green."

"Flash of green?"

Harry nodded. "The Killing Curse produces a sort of green mist from the tip of a wand when its cast. The death is instant and a muggle doctor would be unable to find a cause of death. It would appear as if the person just dropped dead for no apparent reason." After a moment of silence, Harry added, "Anyway, Voldemort killed my parents and then he tried to kill me, but for some reason his curse backfired and hit him instead. That's how I got my scar, when the Killing Curse hit me and rebounded against Voldemort."

Dudley was speechless for several minutes as he tried to process what Harry had just told him. He didn't understand many of the magical concepts, but one thing he could understand is that his cousins' parents had been murdered and that Harry had witnessed his mother's murder. Dudley shivered as he didn't even want to think about such things. True, he'd only been a baby at the time, but still no child should ever see their mother murdered right before their eyes. When he finally managed to speak, he said, "Well, at least he's dead."

With a sigh, Harry said, "I wish that was true."

Confused, Dudley asked, "What do you mean?"

"Voldemort had taken precautions, I guess," Harry said. "When the curse hit him, his body was destroyed but his spirit remained. He remained without a body for several years, but then he performed a ritual towards the end of my fourth year at Hogwarts which restored him to a body. Nobody believed it at first and for most of my last school year, people thought I was lying."

"Do they still think that?"

Shaking his head, Harry said, "No, they know he's back now. Towards the end of this past school year, his followers attacked the Ministry and he showed up in person. My headmaster dueled with him and then Fudge and the Aurors showed up just in time to see him, before he could Apparate away."

"Fudge? Aurors? Apparate?" Dudley asked, clearly confused.

Harry smiled. "Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. Aurors are kind of like magical policemen. And Apparating is a form of teleportation that witches and wizards can do."

"Wow," Dudley said. "Can you do it?"

"No, you have to be 17 and licensed," Harry answered. "It's like getting a driver's license actually."

At this point, Dudley yawned and said, "Well, I guess I should be getting back to bed."

"Yeah, sleep well, Dudley," Harry said, as his cousin stood up and replaced the desk chair.

"You too, cousin," Dudley said, before he left the room.

Harry just sat there for a few minutes, unable to believe what had just happened. 'Did I actually just have a civil conversation with Dudley? Talk about a miracle.' Shaking his head, Harry took off his glasses and set them on the nightstand, before turning off his lamp and settling back down into bed.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

So there's the rewrite of Chapter One of 'The Return of the Heirs', now called 'The Knights of the Founders'. I changed the title of the story because I didn't want there to be any confusion between the two different versions of the story. Although the original version has been taken down from the sites it was posted on and will only be reposted into the Files section of my Yahoo group once this version reaches a point that all the major plot points that were covered in the original have been dealt with in this version, thus eliminating the possibility of storyline spoilers. The original version of this story was Harry/Draco, but this won't be. My love for that pairing has waned dramatically over the last couple of years and I just wasn't able to bring myself to work on it. With this rewrite, however, I don't think that will be a problem any longer.

Also, just to let you know, for the time being at least, barring any unforeseen complications, new chapters of this story will be posted on the 1st and the 15th of every month. Should this schedule change, I'll be sure to let you know. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, I'd love to hear them, so feel free to review and let me know what you're thinking.


	2. Decisions

The Knights of the Founders  
By J.C. Vascardi

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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and the Possibility of Mpreg (I'm currently undecided)

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Chapter Two:

Decisions

-o-0-o-

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Cole Cromwell emerged from his ensuite bathroom wearing nothing but a towel following his morning shower and walked over to the closet to decide what he'd wear for the day. It was Saturday, the 20th of July, 1996, so, even if it wasn't summer vacation, Ryan wouldn't have had to go to school, and thus he immediately eliminated his school uniform as an option. Settling on a pair of blue denim shorts and a black t-shirt with a silver dragon printed on it, Ryan walked back over to his bed and dropped his towel.

As this point, he took a moment to look at himself in the full-length mirror near his bed, as he did nearly every morning. He didn't consider himself to be vain, but he still enjoyed checking himself out. Of course, part of the reason for this was because it was also at this point that he grabbed his wand from his bedside table and carefully performed the Glamour Charms which reshaped part of his ears. Why did he need to reshape them? The reason was that due to a birth defect, his ears were pointed, similar to those of a Vulcan on Star Trek. He had once expressed an interest in having cosmetic surgery to correct the defect, but his grandmother forbade it so vehemently that he never brought it up again and decided to make do with the Glamour Charms.

Ryan lived in a small cottage in Asheville, North Carolina with his grandmother, retired Auror Lucinda Cromwell. Ryan's mother died giving birth to him and he'd never known his father. He assumed that he was dead as he didn't like to consider the possibility that his father was alive and yet chose to have nothing to do with him. Ryan was actually born at Cromwell Hall, the family estate in North Yorkshire, England in the United Kingdom, but had lived with his grandmother in Asheville since he was ten. Ryan remembered that he'd been given no choice in moving to Asheville, as his grandmother just packed up all of his belongings and told him one morning at breakfast that they were moving to the United States and that they would be leaving immediately after breakfast that day.

That was classic Lucinda Cromwell, however, as she was widely known for her tendency to make decisions for other people and expect them to go along with them with no comment. If it wasn't for the fact that Lucinda was known to be one of the strongest witches alive and a very well-respected and generous philanthropist who helped numerous different causes, it was likely that she would have faced more issues due to her forceful personality. Ryan himself hadn't been pleased with his grandmother for the abrupt move, as he hadn't wanted to leave his friends, but she provided him with a magical means of remaining in contact with them so that helped at least a little bit.

Of course, even being only ten at the time, Ryan had also been very perceptive for a person his age and had the feeling that the recent death of his grandfather, William Cromwell, had had something to do with the move. Cromwell Hall held nearly forty years of memories for Lucinda after all and not all of them were good, especially the most recent as William's death had been a long and agonizing ordeal as he slowly succumbed to a magical wasting sickness. Ryan supposed that watching the love of your life slowly wither away and die could not be a good experience and thus he understood his grandmother's desire to get away from the site of those memories. A part of him wanted to do so as well, even though he hadn't seen the worst of it because his grandmother had done her best to shield him from having to see just how badly off his grandfather had gotten towards the end.

Finishing up the Glamour Charms, Ryan walked over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of red and white Calvin Klein boxer-briefs, along with socks and a white, ribbed, sleeveless undershirt. Putting these items on, Ryan then pulled on his denim shorts and the black t-shirt he'd selected, before he left his bedroom. Entering the kitchen, Ryan spotted his grandmother at the table, calmly sipping a cup of tea as she read from a nearby book, which Ryan recognized to be a copy of Shakespeare's Complete Works. Looking up, Lucinda shook her head and said, "Finally decided to join the land of the living did you?"

"It can't be that late," Ryan commented. He wasn't in the habit of wearing a watch and he hadn't spared a glance at his bedside clock or any of the other clocks he'd passed to get to the kitchen, so he didn't know what time it was, but it couldn't possibly be as late as his grandmother's statement suggested, could it?

"It's 2:30 in the afternoon, Ryan," Lucinda said. "I realize that you're a teenager and that it's your summer vacation, so you're bound to sleep in, but I think first waking up two and a half hours past noon is pushing it a bit. Honestly, if I hadn't heard your shower running, I was nearing the point of coming in to wake you."

"Wow, can't believe I slept that long," Ryan said aloud, although as he turned away from his grandmother, heading towards the fridge for some food, he couldn't help but grin as he remembered the reason for his sleeping so late: a particularly naughty and very sexy dream starring himself between Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.

"Don't think I don't know you're grinning like an idiot, Ryan Cole Cromwell," Lucinda said, as she finished her tea and closed her book. "And since you slept so late, your lunch can wait."

Stopping midstride, Ryan turned to look at his grandmother and asked, "What? I'm hungry."

"Well you should have thought of that before sleeping most of the day away," Lucinda said, as she stood up and said, "Now, come with me, Ryan, we're leaving."

"Leaving? Where are we going?"

"Cromwell Hall," Lucinda said over her shoulder, as she headed into the living room.

"Why are we going there?" Ryan asked, as he came into the living room to see his grandmother throwing a pinch of Floo powder into the fireplace.

"This should explain it to you," Lucinda said, as she pulled a parchment envelope out of a concealed pocket of her robes and held it out to her grandson.

Ryan had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he took the envelope. Something told him that his grandmother was up to her old tricks of making decisions for others and he had the feeling that he wasn't going to like this decision. Taking a deep breath, Ryan opened the envelope and pulled out a letter.

_Dear Mr. Cromwell,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Your records have already been transferred over from the Asheville Academy of the Arcane, although you will be required to sit examinations to insure that you are up to Hogwarts' educational standards for the sixth year. Please report to the village of Hogsmeade at 9AM sharp on 1 August, 1996, where someone will be waiting to escort you up to the castle for your examinations and a private sorting ceremony._

_You will receive the list of necessary supplies once we have your exam results and know which year level you belong in. Term begins on 1 September, 1996._

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ryan exclaimed, after he'd reread the letter a second time, sure that he must have read it wrong the first time.

Fixing her grandson with her normal no-nonsense look, Lucinda said, "No, Ryan, I assure you I am not kidding."

"You can't do this!" Ryan exclaimed. "You've already done it to me once and you're not doing it to me again! I'm almost seventeen for Merlin's sake!"

Shaking her head, Lucinda said, "Save the dramatics, Ryan. Your birthday is in April and since it's only July you're much closer to sixteen then you are to seventeen. As such, I am still your legal guardian and you will do as I tell you to do." Seeing her grandson's clearly angry look, Lucinda sighed and added, "I'm sorry about this, Ryan, but there is business that I must attend to in England - business which will take several months to finish. With Asheville Academy being a day school, I cannot leave you here and I refuse to impose on any of your friends' parents by asking them to take you in as a houseguest for several months. So, I had no choice but to transfer you to Hogwarts."

"I don't want to go to Hogwarts," Ryan said. "I don't know anybody there and the way this letter is worded, it almost sounds as if they might want to try and put me in a different year than sixth."

"I have every confidence that you will have no trouble with the exams, Ryan," Lucinda said. "You're a smart boy and a good student. You'll be placed in sixth year, so don't you worry about that. As for not knowing anybody, I'm sure some of your old friends attend Hogwarts and even if they don't, you'll know at least one person there."

"Who?" Ryan asked. He didn't mention the tests again because he knew his grandmother was probably right in that he'd have no trouble with them. He just didn't feel like admitting that she was right though because he was still mad at her. Yes, the logical side of his brain knew that she was correct about her reasoning for his transfer, but it was possible for someone to see that something is logical and still not like it. As for his old friends, it was possible that a few of them did attend Hogwarts, but he'd fallen out of touch with all of them. Oh they'd kept in contact via the Floo Network, letters, and the magical hand mirrors that his grandmother had provided for a few months, but in time that contact became less and less as they all had moved on. There was an ocean between them, after all, and children have short attention spans, so it probably would have been a miracle if the friendships had survived the lack of physical contact.

"Your cousin Matthew."

Looking at his grandmother as if she'd just grown a second head, Ryan asked, "Um, grandmother, Matthew is twenty years old and finished Hogwarts in June of 1994."

"I realize that Ryan," Lucinda said. "He's taken a job at Hogwarts, however, as the Assistant Professor for Potions. You won't have him as a teacher as he'll only be teaching the third and fourth year classes, but he'll still be in the castle, which means you will know someone. Now, we've stood here talking long enough, so get in the fire, Ryan. Now."

Ryan recognized his grandmother's tone and knew that she wasn't going to allow any more arguing. Sighing, he said, "What about all of my things? I haven't even packed."

"I gave Blinky standing orders to go in and pack your things as soon as you left your room," Lucinda said, at which point, as if on cue, the house-elf appeared with Ryan's trunk. Turning her gaze to the creature, she asked, "Is Ryan all packed?"

"Yes, Mistress Cromwell, Blinky has packed all of Master Ryan's things."

At this, Lucinda gestured silently at the fireplace and Ryan sighed, before stepping into the emerald green flames and saying, "Cromwell Hall, North Yorkshire, England."

-o-0-o-

Sixteen-year-old Nicolas Phillipe Lavoisier-Delaney stood silently in the drawing room of the only home he'd ever known, Chateaux Lavoisier in Versailles, France, as he reflected on the last two weeks. It had been a relatively uneventful summer, as Nicolas went out with friends and helped his grandfather in the family vineyards. All in all, it had been a good summer, although a part of Nick was anxious for it to end. Now it wasn't because he had an overwhelming desire to go back to school as much as he enjoyed attending Beauxbatons Academy, but because the sooner summer ended, the sooner the tenth of September would arrive. What was so special about that date? It was Nicolas' birthday, but it wasn't just any birthday, as it was his milestone seventeenth birthday, which meant he would finally be a legal adult.

Nicolas still had his sixth and seventh years at Beauxbatons, of course, as much like Hogwarts, you had to be eleven by the first of September in order to attend Beauxbatons. Thus, Nicolas had started his education a year late when he was much closer to twelve. However, he'd still be seventeen, which meant that he'd be free from the restrictions on underage magic and would be allowed to get his Apparition license. He'd also be able to do pretty much anything he wanted without having to ask his grandfather for permission first. Not that he could ask him anything anymore.

The happiness that Nicolas had been feeling about his upcoming birthday quickly evaporated just over a week ago when he'd arrived home from an afternoon with friends to find the housekeeper, Elise Blanchet, waiting for him. He could tell almost immediately just from the look on her face that something was wrong. That's when Nicolas' world came crashing down when Elise told him that while he was out, his grandfather, Jean-Phillipe Lavoisier, had collapsed while tending to some of his prize vines. It had apparently been a minor stroke that had caused him to collapse and one of the hands had immediately sent word to the Chateaux for a healer, as Jean-Phillipe was loaded onto a conjured stretcher and taken to his room. Unfortunately, not long after this, he suffered a massive heart attack and was beyond a healer's ability to help when the healer arrived.

Nicolas lived with his grandfather because his parents, Jean-Luc Lavoisier and Stefan Delaney, had died in September of 1981 when Nicolas was two years old. His parents had gone to England to visit Stefan's younger brother Christian and his wife Sarah, who lived at the Delaney family estate in Northumberland. The plan had been for Nicolas to go with them, but he'd come down with a childhood illness two days before the trip and the healer deemed him too ill to travel. Jean-Luc and Stefan considered cancelling their trip and staying home with their ill son, but Jean-Luc's mother, Nicolette Lavoisier, said that she and her husband were more than capable of taking care of Nicolas. Having moved to France following his marriage to Jean-Luc, Stefan didn't get the opportunity to go back home and visit his family as often as he liked and thus he and Jean-Luc opted to go.

Unfortunately, a few days after they'd arrived, Voldemort and his Death Eaters launched a raid in the area and Jean-Luc and Stefan were among the casualties. This led Nicolas to be raised by his grandparents in France. His grandmother passed away when he was twelve and now that his grandfather had passed, Nicolas had no living blood relatives left. Since he wasn't seventeen yet, the laws of Wizarding France didn't allow him to live alone, so he'd had no choice but to place a Floo call to his Aunt Sarah in England. Her husband Christian was a Hit Wizard and had died in the line of duty in 1987, at which point ownership of Delaney Hall passed to Nicolas, as the sole remaining living Delaney. Living with his grandfather in France, however, Nicolas saw no reason to turn his uncle's widow out and allowed her to stay on at the house. Having never remarried and grateful that Nicolas had allowed her to stay in his family's home, she dropped everything the moment she found out about Jean-Phillipe's death and came to France to help Nicolas with the funeral and other arrangements.

One of those arrangements was Nicolas transferring to Hogwarts, as he'd be going back to Northumberland to live with his aunt. Having been born and raised in France, he didn't really want to leave it. He had friends and a life there, but he knew that he had no choice. The way that Magical France's legal system worked was that if his grandfather had died after his seventeenth birthday, then there wouldn't have been any issues. But, since he died before, Nicolas had to be taken in by a family member or become a ward of the state. The problem with becoming a ward of the state was that while he'd still be considered to be an adult at seventeen, all of his monetary assets would remain under state control until he was twenty-one. The French Ministry would assign someone to oversee them and whoever was assigned had complete autonomy to do whatever they wanted and would not be required to ask for any input from Nicolas, so long as they believed, in their professional opinion, that what they were doing was best for Nicolas.

Nicolas didn't like the idea of turning over all of his family's business and financial interests to someone outside of the family as both the Lavoisier and Delaney families had kept those interests family only for over three centuries and he didn't want to be the family member who stopped that tradition. Thankfully, because his Aunt Sarah had never remarried, she was seen as a viable family member for Nicolas to live with in order to avoid becoming a ward of the state and everything that went with it. Until Nicolas turned seventeen, Sarah would be the public face of both families taking care of any family business that Nicolas, as a minor, couldn't. However, she made it clear that Nicolas would be completely in charge, making all of the decisions behind the scenes, and that she would happily turn everything over to him the second he turned seventeen.

"Nicolas?"

Turning towards the voice, Nicolas smiled at his aunt and said, "Yes Aunt Sarah?"

"It's time to go," Sarah answered.

Nicolas nodded, knowing that his aunt needed to get back to England as after nearly a week and a half in France she was almost out of paid vacation time from her job. Now his aunt didn't really need the money, as her husband had left her with a good-sized inheritance when he died and living at Delaney Hall rent free she'd managed to save a fair amount. However, Sarah greatly enjoyed her work as a healer in the pediatrics ward at St. Mungo's and wanted to get back to her patients. There was, however, one colleague at work that she didn't get along with who would take any opportunity she could to get Sarah fired and position herself to get promoted in the process.

So, Sarah didn't want to give the hospital any reason to fire her and not showing up for work when she was out of vacation time would be a valid reason. While she liked to believe that her superiors would give her a grace period because they knew that she wasn't taking a pleasure trip, she didn't want to risk it since she knew that her colleague's husband had friends on the hospital board, though thankfully not enough to force Sarah's termination without a valid reason. Thus, she obviously didn't want to do anything that would give them a reason.

Taking a look around the room, Nicolas said, "It's hard to leave the only home you've ever known. I've visited Delaney Hall before, of course, and I live at Beauxbatons for most of the year, but this is still home to me."

"I understand, Nicolas," Sarah said. "But, you don't have to stay in England. Once you're seventeen, you can move back here if you wish."

"Well, I'll have to stay at least a year," Nicolas said. "I've already checked and Beauxbatons doesn't do midyear transfers, even for returning past students. So, I'll be at Hogwarts for my entire sixth year, at the very least. Assuming I do well enough on their examinations to get placed in sixth year that is."

Sarah smiled, as she shook her head, and said, "Nicolas, I've seen your transcript. With your grades, you'll have no trouble with the Hogwarts examinations. I have no doubt that they'll place you in your sixth year where you're supposed to be."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Nicolas agreed. "I just can't help but get a little nervous, what with having no idea whats actually going to be on the examinations. Not to mention the fact that despite being a good student, tests in general have always made me nervous." Smiling as he remembered something, he added, "Grandfather had to give me Calming Draughts almost every day for the week leading up to my proficiency exams last year. They're called OWLs in Britain, right?"

With a nod, Sarah said, "That's the abbreviated name, yes. The full name is Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Then at the end of seventh year you take the NEWTs or Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests."

"I fear for the sanity of whoever came up with those names," Nicolas said. "The first one isn't so bad, but I don't think the words 'Nastily Exhausting' belong in the name of an aptitude test."

"I'm inclined to agree," Sarah said. "But all in all, I believe you'll enjoy your time at Hogwarts, even if you do opt to return to Beauxbatons for your seventh year."

"That's what I'm hoping," Nicolas said. "Anyway, I suppose we should get going. Thanks again for taking me in Aunt Sarah."

"Nicolas, you don't have to thank me," Sarah said. "It's your house that I'm taking you to after all and you're family. I know some people would say that our familial connection died with Christian, but I still think of you as family regardless."

"Same here," Nicolas said with a smile, before he and his aunt took hold of the international portkey they'd gotten, disappearing moments later.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

And that brings to a close the second chapter. Harry will return in Chapter Three. For those of you who read the original version of this story, you'll know that Ryan and Nicolas are important characters to the overall storyline. Thus, I felt the need to introduce them a bit better than I had originally. Of course, there have been changes made to the storyline from the original. I hope that you've enjoyed it.


	3. New Beginnings, Part One

The Knights of the Founders  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and Mpreg

Note: I apologize for the late posting, I know this was due to go up yesterday on October 1st. I was distracted by life and my internet connection has been rather spotty over the last few days and thus I couldn't post this yesterday. Hopefully the next chapter will be on time.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Three:

New Beginnings

Part One

-o-0-o-

The next morning, Harry awoke early and went downstairs as he usually did to make breakfast for the Dursleys. Harry was standing at the stove, calmly tending to the eggs, while the bacon and sausages baked in the oven below, but he usually had no trouble hearing his relatives waking up. Thus, he was quite surprised when the kitchen door opened and Dudley walked into the room, smiled, and said, "Morning Harry."

"Morning Dudley," Harry said back to his cousin, as he turned down the heat on the eggs so that he could check the bacon and sausages. Seeing that both items were finished cooking, Harry grabbed some pot holders and proceeded to take the hot pans out of the oven. Setting them down on a nearby counter, Harry said, "You're certainly up early."

"I couldn't sleep," Dudley said. "To excited about the upcoming trip I guess."

"Ah, I see," Harry said, as he plated bacon, sausages, eggs, and toast for Dudley and said, "Well, I hope you enjoy yourself then. Anyway here's your breakfast."

"Thank you," Dudley said as he sat down at the kitchen table. Noticing that it looked like Harry wasn't going to eat anything, Dudley added, "Fix a plate for yourself, Harry."

"What?" Harry asked, more than a little shell-shocked. He knew he'd had a civil conversation with Dudley last night but he didn't think he'd live to see the day when his cousin actually invited him to eat a meal with him.

"Fix a plate for yourself, Harry," Dudley repeated. "You cooked it, so, it's only right you get to enjoy it."

"I..." Harry began, unsure what to say. After a moment, he settled with, "Your parents wouldn't like that."

"My parents are still sleeping," Dudley said. "I checked on my way down, so, fix a plate and pull up a chair, cousin."

"I didn't make enough for four."

Lifting an eyebrow, Dudley said, "Didn't make enough for four? Please, Harry, there's enough here to feed a small army. If I end up eating a bit less then so be it."

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Dudley?"

"It's me, Harry," Dudley said with a grin. "I know me volunteering to eat less seems extraordinary but we both know that I could stand to lose a few pounds."

"I think I've entered The Twilight Zone," Harry said, even as he placed an egg on a plate, along with a single slice of bacon, a sausage link and one piece of toast.

Dudley shook his head, however, and said, "Oh come on, Harry, you can eat more than that. Unlike me, you could actually stand to gain a few pounds."

"You're really starting to scare me, Dudley," Harry said. "And considering everything I've faced at school, that's quite the accomplishment."

Temporarily abandoning his own breakfast, Dudley stood up and took the plate from Harry's hands, placing another egg on it, along with another slice of toast, and three more of both the bacon and the sausage, before placing it on the table and saying, "Sit down and eat, Harry, or I may be forced to get violent."

_**'Well that at least sounds more like the Dudley I know,'**_ Harry thought as he sat down at the table across from Dudley.

Nothing was said for the next few minutes, as the two of them ate in silence. Finally, Dudley asked, "What did you mean everything you've faced at school?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

Staring blankly at his cousin for a moment, Harry shook his head and said, "Well, okay, if you must know, in my first year, I came face to face with Voldemort."

"Voldemort?" Dudley asked. "I thought you said he didn't have a body until last year?"

"He didn't," Harry answered. "He'd possessed my Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, so Voldemort's spirit was sharing his body. Professor Quirrell always wore a large turban to hide the fact that he had Voldemort's face on the back of his head."

"Okay that's more than a little freaky," Dudley said after a moment. "What happened?"

"Apparently my mum sacrificing herself for me gave me some kind of protection from Voldemort," Harry replied. "When Professor Quirrell reached out and touched me, he burst into flames and Voldemort's spirit was forced to flee before he ended up dying along with Quirrell."

Dudley was silent for a moment when Harry suddenly started laughing. Dudley looked at him strangely as he asked, "What's so funny?"

Taking a moment to get a hold of himself, Harry said, "I just remembered something. Around the Christmas holidays my friend Ron's elder brothers, Fred and George, charmed a few snowballs to follow Professor Quirrell around and continually hit him in the back of the head. I'm not sure they realize that they were actually throwing snowballs at Voldemort."

Dudley laughed at this, but after a moment, sobered enough to ask, "Fred and George? Aren't they the red-headed twins that gave me that candy that made my tongue swell up?"

"Yes," Harry confirmed. "That was their Ton-Tongue Toffee. Be glad it wasn't a Canary Cream."

"A Canary Cream? What's that?"

"It looks and tastes like a custard cream," Harry answered. "But, it'll also transfigure the eater into a large canary for about a minute, until they molt all their feathers and turn back to normal."

"Okay and why do they create these things?"

"They're practical jokers," Harry said. "It's also how they make a living, as they own a store called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, which is basically a joke shop. They sell all kinds of products that are specially charmed to make people laugh." After a moment of silence, Harry admitted, "I'm actually their silent partner."

"Silent partner? How?"

"I gave them their startup money," Harry revealed. "In my fourth year, my name got drawn to participate in the Triwizard Tournament and I was deemed the winner in the end. Got a thousand galleons in prize money, which I gave to Fred and George to start their shop."

"What's a galleon?"

"Highest denomination of wizarding money," Harry explained. "We use gold, silver, and bronze coins. It's twenty-nine bronze knuts to a silver sickle and seventeen sickles to a golden galleon. One galleon is worth five pounds. So, I won £5,000 for the Triwizard and gave it all to Fred and George to start their business."

"Wow, that was very generous of you, Harry," Dudley said. "Forgive me, but I also think it's crazy. If I won £5,000 there's no way I'd give it all away."

"Yes, well, I didn't need the money," Harry said and noticing the look on his cousin's face, he said, "I'd prefer that you refrain from mentioning this to your parents, Dudley, but I'm actually one of the wealthiest wizards in the country. The Potters were old money to begin with and when my godfather, who came from another old money family, died a couple of months back, I inherited all of his family's holdings as well. Of course, I don't have access to most of it, as it's held in trust until my majority."

"I won't tell Mum and Dad," Dudley said. "Although, if they did know, I can only imagine they'd wish they'd been nicer to you. That isn't my motive, by the way. I truly am trying to be a better person."

"Well, that's good if it's true," Harry said. "Last night and this morning I have seen a different side of you, but you'll forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical after all the years you spent tormenting me."

"Of course," Dudley agreed. "Anyway, I'm sorry about your godfather. Was that the person you were talking about in your sleep? Cedric?"

Harry briefly closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. _**'Can I trust Dudley with the truth? He's been acting nicer to me, but will he react the same if he knows I'm queer?'**_ Shaking his head, he said, "No, my godfather was Sirius Black. He died towards the end of my last school year."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Dudley said. "So, who's Cedric?"

Harry looked down at this, as he continued to debate whether or not he should answer that question. He rather liked this new side to Dudley that he'd begun seeing and he didn't want to go back to having his cousin torment him. It would be nice to have at least one blood family member that he actually got along with, after all. Dudley was silent as he waited for Harry to answer, silently going about eating his food. His eyes cast downward towards the table top, Harry noticed for the first time that the knuckles on Dudley's right hand were bruised and it looked like he was having a bit of trouble holding his fork as he ate his eggs.

"You say you're trying to be a better person," Harry said, "but from the look of your hand, it would appear that you're still beating people up."

Dudley looked down at his hand for a moment, before he turned back towards his cousin and said, "This guy deserved it."

"Really?" Harry asked. "And what did he do, Dudley? Look at you wrong? Or did you decide to steal his shoes? Or his bike? Wouldn't be the first time."

"No, no, none of that," Dudley said. "He was making fun of Piers - called him a cock-sucking fairy boy. Piers is my oldest and best friend and I couldn't let him get away with that, so I punched him."

"Wait, he called Piers that?" Harry asked and Dudley nodded. "Calling him names is wrong, but why'd you feel the need to punch him? It's not like it's true. You couldn't have just ignored it?"

"I don't like it when people call my friends names," Dudley answered and then after a moment, he added, "And I did tell him to stop a few times before punching him, but he wouldn't listen. Besides, it is true."

"What?"

"Piers is queer," Dudley said and Harry found himself almost spitting out the sip of orange juice he'd taken moments before Dudley had spoken.

Coughing, Harry said, "Excuse me? Piers? Piers Polkiss? He's queer?" Dudley nodded. "Since when?"

"Since forever?" Dudley asked. "I've known since we were twelve. He's out to most of his friends, though not to his parents."

"And you're actually okay with that?" Harry asked, as he thought, _**'Okay, now I know I'm in The Twilight Zone.'**_

"Yeah, I'm fine with it," Dudley answered. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then added, "Okay, I wasn't at first. In fact, it freaked me out a little. Was afraid he'd try and get with me or something and I don't swing that way. But, in time I realized that he wasn't interested in me and that he was the same Piers I'd always known. So I accepted it and we moved on."

"I don't know what to say," Harry said.

"You don't have a problem with Piers being queer do you?"

"No, I don't," Harry said. "The Wizarding world has a different outlook on that topic. In fact, same-sex marriage is legal in the Wizarding world, so, most witches and wizards don't really care about such things."

"Oh cool," Dudley said.

_**'I guess if Piers is queer and Dudley doesn't mind, maybe I could tell him about Cedric,'**_ Harry thought. There weren't a ton of people that he could talk to about Cedric as neither of them had ever come out of the closet. They'd planned to do so, but those plans had derailed when both of their names came out of the Goblet of Fire. They then decided to stay in the closet about both their relationship and their sexualities until after the Tournament. Unfortunately, Cedric didn't live to see the end of it and Harry was so upset about it that he in turn never came out himself. He wasn't ready to date anyone anyway, so he figured there wasn't really any point. There were a few people who knew, of course. Noah, obviously, and Hermione knew. Harry suspected that Fred and George knew as well, but he couldn't confirm it.

"You've suddenly gotten very quiet, Harry. Is something wrong?"

"No, I was just thinking," Harry answered, as he looked Dudley straight in the eye, hoping he'd see some sign if he was lying, and asked, "You really don't have a problem with Piers being queer?"

Shaking his head, Dudley said, "No, I don't. I know my parents don't have the nicest things to say about such things and I suppose at one time I blindly followed them in their beliefs. But, Piers coming out forced me to reevaluate some things, just as my encounter with the Dementors did." Then getting a confused look on his face, he asked, "Why do you care so much, Harry? You're not queer. Are you?"

_**'Moment of truth,'**_ Harry thought. He hadn't been able to see any sign that Dudley was lying, so he decided to tell the truth himself. He only hoped that Dudley was in fact telling the truth and not simply trying to lull him into a false sense of security and get him to tell him something which would end in a busted lip or worse. "Well, actually, yes, Dudley, I am. Cedric was my boyfriend."

Dudley's eyes widened and he said, "You're queer? Wow, I never would have guessed." Then what Harry had said registered and he asked, "Wait, was? Did he break your heart? Do I need to beat him up?"

"No you don't need to beat him up," Harry answered. "I did get my heart broken, but not by him. Or at least not directly by him."

"What do you mean?"

Feeling choked up all of a sudden, Harry swallowed past the lump in his throat and said, "I was heartbroken when he died."

"Died?" Dudley asked. "Sweet Jesus, Harry. You certainly have had more than your fair share of loss haven't you? First your parents, then your godfather, and now your boyfriend, too?"

"Cedric died at the end of my fourth year," Harry answered. "Just before the ritual Voldemort did to get his new body. One of his Death Eaters, Peter Pettigrew, killed him on Voldemort's orders. 'Kill the spare,' he said." Tears came to Harry's eyes as he said this. "Ric wasn't a spare. He was the man I loved and he was too young to die."

Dudley wasn't quite sure what to do for his cousin. His father had always told him that real men don't cry. Although, Dudley had slowly come to the realization that a lot of the things his father told him were complete rubbish. It was hard sometimes, however, to let go of the beliefs that had been drilled into him for as long as he could remember, even if he now acknowledged that they were wrong. Of course, Dudley also had very little experience in comforting people, as he didn't do it very often. Most of the time he'd communicate with his fists or he'd throw a temper tantrum with his parents in order to get what he wanted. Until the incident with the Dementors when he saw himself for what he really was, he had cared very little about anyone other than himself.

_**'I want to change that, though,'**_ Dudley thought. Making up his mind, he reached across the table and took Harry's hand, giving it a squeeze. He remained silent, however, as he rather doubted there was anything he could say that would truly make his cousin feel better. Harry had lost more in his young life than anyone deserved and it only reinforced the thoughts that had been forming in Dudley's mind since his encounter with the Dementors - that all of his priorities up until that point had been completely wrong and that he needed to change if he was going to be able to look at himself in the mirror and actually like what he saw.

Harry jumped slightly when Dudley touched him, as he wasn't used to his cousin doing that unless there was pain soon to follow. Once his mind had processed the fact that it was a friendly, comforting touch however, he gave Dudley a weak smile and did his best to dry his eyes. He was just about to thank Dudley for his support when Hedwig flew into the room through the open kitchen window and landed on the table next to Harry's plate. Dudley let go of Harry's hand at this point and just watched silently, not entirely sure how to react around the snowy owl. He'd seen Harry's owl before, of course, but he'd never been this close to it.

Smiling, Harry said, "Hey girl, you have something for me?"

Hedwig seemed to nod her head and gave Harry a look that said, "Yes, you silly boy, or did you not notice the envelopes tied to my leg?"

Shaking his head and drying the last of his tears, Harry then reached down and untied the two envelopes from Hedwig's leg, at which point he set them aside for a moment. Grabbing a strip of bacon from his plate, Harry broke off some of it and held it out to his owl, who quickly took it and began eating. Feeding Hedwig a couple more pieces of the strip of bacon, Harry then turned his attention to the two letters.

"Messages from your friends?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah one is from Ron and the other is from Noah. I sent Hedwig out with messages to both of them yesterday asking if I could stay with them while you and the family are on vacation."

"Ah, well, what did they have to say?" Dudley asked, hoping that one of them would be able to take Harry in, because he knew that his father was serious about leaving Harry out on the street when they left. Of course, Dudley had a feeling that probably wouldn't be an issue for a wizard, as there were surely spells that would enable Harry to get past a locked door if he wanted to.

Opening Ron's letter first, Harry started reading.

_Harry,_

_That sucks that your family is going on vacation without you, but you're more than welcome to come stay with us. You know Mum would love to have you and so would I. The only problem is that the house is packed at the moment because Charlie is in from Romania. He's getting married to his longtime friend, Alexi Zeklos, and thus Mum and Dad invited the entire Zeklos family here for the week leading up to the wedding so that the two families could get to know one another. Thus, Fred, George, and Percy are bunking in my room so that Alexi and three cousins can sleep in Percy's room, while Alexi's parents, aunt, and uncle have taken over the twins' room._

_Bill and Charlie have always shared a room, but now they've also got Alexi's two brothers bunking with them and Ginny and my parents are sleeping in the living room so that Alexi's three sisters can have Ginny's room, while all four of Alexi's grandparents are sharing Mum and Dad's room. So, yeah, until the wedding on 28th July, the house is going to be quite full, but we'll make room for you somewhere, Harry. Alexi's family is leaving the day after the wedding, so then things will get back to normal around here and we can celebrate your birthday without tripping over Alexi's family._

_Ron_

"Yikes," Harry said as he finished reading, noting that when Ron had first mentioned Charlie's girlfriend, he'd written something else, which he then scribbled out so well that Harry couldn't read it. The word friend also seemed to be written quite a bit darker than the rest of the letter for some reason. "Ron says he'd love for me to come and spend the rest of the summer with him, but the house is quite crowded at the moment. His older brother, Charlie, is getting married to some girl he met in Romania where he works and both sides of the family are currently at Ron's parents house for the week leading up to the wedding, so they could get to know one another."

"How many people is that?"

"Well, including Charlie, Ron has five elder brothers and a younger sister, plus his parents," Harry said. "So, that's already nine people, in a six bedroom house. And as for the girl's family, it seems she has five siblings, three cousins, an aunt and uncle, her parents, and all four grandparents, so that's another seventeen people in the house."

"Damn! Sounds like they're packed in worse than sardines."

Harry nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm inclined to agree."

Setting Ron's letter aside for the moment, Harry pulled out Noah's letter and began reading.

_Hey Harry,_

_Can I just say how horrid it is of your relatives to go on vacation without you? The more I hear about them, the more I really want to hex them into the middle of the next millennium. I'll be seventeen in September, so, I could do it. Only thing stopping me is the fact that anything I did at your relatives' house would likely be attributed to you and you'd get in trouble. Anyway, I've already asked Mum and Amos, and they're both fine with you coming to stay here for the rest of the summer. I know you've probably contacted Ron too, so, you may have more than one offer, but let me know what you decide. Of course I hope you opt to stay here, but if you choose Ron's I'll understand. Take care, Harry, and I hope to see you soon. If not at my house then at Hogwarts come September._

_Noah_

Finishing Noah's letter, Harry said, "Well, Noah says I can stay with him too. It's just him and his parents there, although that isn't without issues either."

"Why? Seems to me that not having to trip over so many people would be a good thing."

"Noah is Cedric's stepbrother," Harry said. "So, if I go to stay with him, I'll be in the house that Cedric grew up in with Cedric's father."

"Ah, I see how that might be awkward," Dudley said. "Which way are you leaning?"

Before Harry could respond, movement could be heard upstairs and Harry quickly put the letters away and motioned for Hedwig to leave the kitchen, as he knew that his aunt would be furious if she saw an owl sitting on her kitchen table. Standing up from the table, Harry picked up his plate and cleaned up the evidence that would give away the fact that he'd eaten breakfast with Dudley. He then began heating up more food so that it would be ready by the time his aunt and uncle came down.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

And here's Part One of Chapter Three. Those of you who have read some of my other HP works, such as The Journey Begins, know that I can write very long chapters. But, since the first two chapters of this story were relatively short, I've decided to repeat that in this chapter by splitting it up into parts so that each chapter is roughly the same length.

Now as for Dudley, I realize that he probably seems out of character. However, before writing this I'd read a comment from JKR about how Dudley realized some hard truths about himself when he encountered the Dementors and that's what set into motion his change of attitude that was never really shown in the books. Well, with the possible exception that Dudley hugged Harry in Deathly Hallows just before the Dursleys left to go into hiding and that after the war, Dudley and Harry were on Christmas card terms and their children played together. I decided to actually showcase his change of attitude in this story, so, I hope you enjoy it and can forgive me if he seems a bit out of character.

There's a poll about this story on both my FFNet profile and my Live Journal, so check it out and vote.


	4. New Beginnings, Part Two

The Knights of the Founders  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and Mpreg

-o-0-o-

Chapter Three:

New Beginnings

Part Two

-o-0-o-

Ryan awoke the next morning in a large bed and for a few moments he was slightly on edge as he didn't recognize where he was. After a moment, however, when he'd more fully woken up, he realized that he was in his old room at Cromwell Hall, which hadn't changed at all over the years that he'd been living in Asheville. Getting up, Ryan headed into the adjoining bathroom to start his morning routine. Once he was finished he came back out, selected the clothes he was going to wear for the day, applied his Glamours, and got dressed. Before leaving the room he looked at the clock on his bedside table and smiled.

_**'Grandmother can't complain that I'm sleeping too late now,'**_ Ryan thought. _**'It's only eight fifteen in the morning.'**_

Making his way down the hallway towards the back stairs that led down to the kitchen, Ryan paused outside the doors to the master bedroom, which is where his cousin Matthew slept. Ryan knew that his cousin had been a bit wary of moving into the bedroom after his father had died three years earlier, but eventually he got over it and moved into the larger, more luxurious suite of rooms.

_**'I wonder if Matt is up yet,'**_ Ryan said, as he stood there for a moment, before walking over to the double doors. He raised his fist and was just about to knock when he heard a muffled moaning sound, along with the sound of squeaking mattress springs and a headboard hitting the wall. Ryan grinned as he lowered his hand. _**'Seems Matt is up after all, though not precisely in the way that I'd been thinking.'**_

Backing away from the door, as he didn't want anyone to catch him loitering outside the door to the master bedroom listening to its' occupants having sex, Ryan continued on his way towards the back stairs. He was very curious, however, about just who was in the room with his cousin, because while living on opposite sides of the Atlantic for the last few years, Ryan and Matthew had still kept in regular contact. In fact, they'd talked via the Floo Network for just over an hour two days before Lucinda dropped the bomb on Ryan that they'd be moving back to England and never once in that time did Matthew mention being involved with anyone.

Arriving in the kitchens, Ryan spotted one of the family elves and said, "Hello Barin."

Turning at the voice, Barin smiled and bowed deeply, before he said, "Master Ryan, welcome back. How can Barin serve you today?"

"I'd like some breakfast, please," Ryan said and the elf nodded. "Just tea and toast is fine."

"Yes, Master Ryan," Barin said. "If you'll have a seat in the family dining room, Barin will bring it out to you."

Ryan had considered eating breakfast in the kitchen's breakfast nook, but looking out the windows he could see that it was a rather gloomy and depressing looking day outside and thus opted to head out to the small family dining room that adjoined the kitchen as Barin had suggested. Sitting down at the round dining table, which would seat about ten people comfortably, Ryan looked around at the oak paneling and floors of the room. It had been years since he'd last eaten a meal in this room and yet, as the memories began flooding back to him, it felt like it was just yesterday. There had been many family dinners held in this room over the years he'd lived here, some of them being joyous occasions, while others had been much more somber. It had also been in this room that Lucinda had changed the course of Ryan's life by telling him they were moving to America.

_**'I honestly never thought I'd be back here,'**_ Ryan thought. _**'I wonder if any of my old friends will even remember me when I turn up at Hogwarts.'**_

Before his move across the ocean, there were several people that Ryan had counted as friends, both in the muggle and wizarding world. It was somewhat uncommon for the son of a pureblood witch to be associating with muggles, but then the Cromwell family had never really bought into the whole blood purity spiel, as evidenced by the fact that Ryan's late uncle, Charles Cromwell, had married a muggle woman. Katrina Cromwell had been more than a little shocked to find out that her new husband was a wizard, but she had eventually come to terms with it. Of course, there had been some tension, as well, because Katrina had wanted Matthew to go to Eton College and thus had lobbied quite hard for him to be pulled out of Hogwarts after his second year, figuring that by then he should have learned enough to control his powers and could then go and get a proper British education.

In the end, however, Matthew, with his father's help, managed to convince his mother that remaining at Hogwarts would be for the best. Charles had to bring in some very expensive private tutors to ensure Matthew kept up with his muggle studies to a sufficient enough degree to placate his wife, but he didn't mind doing that, as the Cromwell family was old money and had more than they knew what to do with anyway. Of course, the year before Ryan moved to America with his grandmother, his Aunt Katrina found out that she was pregnant. With the whole family saddened by the declining health of family patriarch William Cromwell, the news was a much needed bit of happiness. Unfortunately, in her sixth month of pregnancy, Katrina tripped and fell down the stairs, breaking her neck. The whole family was devastated not only by her death, but the death of her unborn child, as well, which had been determined to be a girl only a week prior to the accident.

Ryan was brought out of his thoughts by the door to the kitchen opening and Barin coming through, levitating a tray behind him. Once it was moved up to the table in front of him, Ryan saw the china tea service, along with a plate of toast and a few bowls full of various fruit preserves. There was also a small glass of orange juice, a helping of scrambled eggs with diced onions, red and green peppers, and ham added to them, as well as a bowl of fresh fruit. Turning to glance at Barin, Ryan raised an eyebrow and the elf gave him an apologetic smile, before he said, "Sorry sir, but Barin has orders from Mistress Lucinda that Master Ryan should eat more balanced breakfast than just toast."

Ryan rolled his eyes. He had never been a big fan of breakfast, because he wasn't really a morning person to begin with, and thus he usually would only opt for something light. Like the tea and toast that he'd ordered. He wasn't the least bit surprised, however, that his grandmother had already gotten to the house-elves and made sure that he was eating more than that. He could just hear his grandmother saying, 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Ryan,' and grinned.

Picking up the fork on the tray, Ryan took some of the eggs and took a bite. Once he was finished chewing, he swallowed and said, "Thanks Barin, these are actually very good."

"You welcome, Master Ryan," Barin said with a smile. "Anything else Barin can do for Master Ryan, sir?"

"Well, I do have a few questions."

Barin nodded his head and said, "Barin will do best to answer, Master Ryan."

"First off, where's my grandmother?" Ryan asked, as he hadn't seen her yet this morning and that was very unusual, since in the time they'd lived in Asheville, he couldn't remember a single time that she hadn't been there when he'd woken up, whenever that might be.

"Mistress left early this morning, sir," Barin answered. "Said she had some important work to do. Barin not know what, sir."

"Okay," Ryan said, as he wondered just what this important work was. He couldn't help but be curious about it, after all, since it was the reason why his grandmother had suddenly uprooted his life yet again. "Do you know when my cousin will be down for breakfast?"

"Master Matthew and his friend take their breakfasts in bed, sir," Barin said, although his eyes bulged after he'd said it and he added. "Oh, Barin wasn't supposed to say that. Oh, Barin is in so much trouble!"

"Calm down. It'll be okay," Ryan said in an attempt to calm the now hysterical house-elf.

"No, Barin is in much trouble," the elf repeated. "Master Matthew say house-elves not supposed to talk about that. Barin is in trouble. Bad Barin! Bad!"

"I'm family though," Ryan said. "Aren't you supposed to do as I ask?"

"Um, yes." The elf nodded and Ryan could see that the elf desperately wanted to punish itself, but it didn't because Ryan distinctly remembered his grandmother telling him that she had long time ago forbidden the house-elves from punishing themselves. "But not this. No, no, not this. Master Matthew insisted. Threatened Barin and other elves, sir. Said he'd give us clothes if we told!"

"Ah, I see," Ryan said. "Okay, well, I'll just ask my cousin then, Barin, and don't worry, I'll make sure that Matt doesn't give you clothes for revealing what you have. I've always been told that I can be very persuasive. Anyway, Matt and I have always been close, so I'm sure I can convince him not to punish you."

"You is most kind Master Ryan," Barin said as he bowed again before disappearing from the room with a loud pop.

_**'Hmm, if I can't get the information out of the house-elves,'**_ Ryan thought, _**'I guess I'll just need to try the sneakier approach.'**_

A few more minutes later, Ryan had finished his breakfast and was headed back upstairs to his bedroom.

-o-0-o-

As the morning sun began to peek through the edges of the drapes, Nicolas opened his eyes and just laid in bed for a moment, not quite ready to move. He'd been shocked yesterday when arriving at Delaney Hall for the first time in five years to find that his Aunt Sarah had moved out of the master suite, which had been the room she'd shared with her late husband. More shocking was when she'd had the house-elves take all of his belongings up to the master bedroom, rather than the smaller room he'd always slept in previously whenever visiting the house. He'd tried to object, but Sarah insisted that it was his house and thus he should sleep in the largest bedroom.

After everything else that had gone on in his life recently, Nicolas had been too tired to argue and opted to just deal with it. There were far more important things that he'd have to adjust to than where he was sleeping after all. One was the weather, because it was quite a bit colder in Northumberland, England than he was used to living in Versailles, France for most of his life. There was also the issue that he was used to speaking in French and knew he'd have to switch to English now that he'd be living in England. Since one of his two fathers was from England, he had learned how to speak English and was fluent in it, but he very rarely, if ever, used it while living in France, so, it was going to take some time to get used to speaking in a different language.

Of course, there was also his impending transfer to Hogwarts and he still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that. Partly because, again with the weather issue, he knew that the highlands of Scotland would be even more of a temperature difference then he was used to, especially with Beauxbatons being located near Cannes on the southern coast of France in the French Riviera. Beyond that, however, was the fact that he didn't really know anybody at Hogwarts and he still didn't really like the idea of leaving behind his life and all of his friends. Not for the first time he found himself wishing that his grandfather hadn't died. Or if he'd had to do so, that he could have just have waited a couple of months until after Nicolas had celebrated his seventeenth birthday.

With a sigh, Nicolas threw back the bed covers, got out of bed, and headed for the ensuite bathroom to start his morning routine. Thirty minutes later, he was entering the kitchen to find his Aunt Sarah standing at the stove making pancakes.

"Morning, Nicolas," she said, without turning away. "Breakfast will be ready soon, did you want some juice while you're waiting?"

"Do we have any coffee?"

"Yes, it's in the pot right there," as she pointed at the coffee pot. "Didn't realize you were a coffee drinker though, Nicolas."

Nodding, he said, "Yeah, I started about three years ago. Now I just can't function right in the mornings until I've had a cup." Walking over to the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup, he asked, "Is that going to be a problem at Hogwarts? I know you Brits usually prefer tea."

Sarah laughed. "That's true for many, but I've always preferred coffee myself. As for Hogwarts, I honestly couldn't say. It's been a long time since I went there, although I can say that when I did, they didn't serve coffee. Only milk, tea, water, or pumpkin juice with meals."

"Lovely," Nicolas said, as he sat down at the table in the breakfast nook. "Well, hopefully I can convince the house-elves to make me some." Taking a sip, he said, "This is good."

"It's an imported blend that I have to specially order," Sarah said. "A bit on the expensive side, but I figure I can afford an indulgence or two. I can make sure you're well-stocked at Hogwarts, if you like. And since you're not asking for alcohol, I don't think the elves will have any issue with making it for you. They always seemed more than willing to fill special requests for students if they asked, so long as there were no rules forbidding it. You might ask at Hogwarts when you go to take your tests and get sorted if it'll be a problem. Just to be sure."

Nicolas nodded and said, "Oui, c'est logique." After a moment, he said, "I mean, yes, that makes sense. I'm going to have to work on remembering to use English now."

Plating pancakes, eggs, sausages, and bacon for her and her nephew, Sarah came over and placed one of the plates in front of him and said, "Yes, I suppose that's true. I'm sure there's at least a few people at Hogwarts who will understand French, but there won't be enough that you can use it exclusively. And I doubt your professors will let you hand in your assignments in French, because having to use a Translation Charm would just mean more work for them and they're already overworked."

"Overworked?" Nicolas asked, as he picked up his fork and cut some of his pancakes and popped them in this mouth. "And thanks, Aunt Sarah, for making these for me. I know they're not a common breakfast food in England."

Sarah smiled. "No, but I know you ate them at home, Nick, and I want you to feel at home."

"Thanks," Nick said with a grin, as he remembered the vacation to New York City he'd taken with his grandparents when he was six. It's when he'd first tasted pancakes and had pretty much had them for breakfast almost every other morning ever since. "I know I'm probably not going to be getting them much at Hogwarts, so, I guess I should enjoy them while I can. Of course, it wasn't exactly easy getting them at Beauxbatons, either, but I'd eventually worked things out with one of the elves that they'd make them for me."

"Well, again, I think the elves will probably accommodate you," Sarah said. "Unless something has changed since I went to Hogwarts, alcohol is pretty much the only special request the elves won't fulfill." She paused here to take a bite of her own breakfast, before she said, "Anyway, as for the professors being overworked, Hogwarts doesn't have the same setup that Beauxbatons does."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong," Sarah said, "but at Beauxbatons you have assistant professors who teach the younger years, right?"

Nick nodded and said, "Yeah, there's an assistant professor who teaches the first through fourth year classes and then the main professor for the subject teaches the fifth through seventh year classes."

Nodding, Sarah said, "Yes, I thought that's what I read. Anyway, at Hogwarts, it's traditionally always been one teacher for all seven years of classes. Thus, you'll probably end up having most of your classes in a particular subject one day a week simply because the professors don't have time to meet with you more than that with their other classes."

"Cela ne sonne pas vraiment comme la meilleure approche," Nick said, before he groaned and said, "Sorry, I'm doing it again, aren't I? I said, 'That does not really sound like the best approach.'"

"It's okay, Nick, I understand," Sarah said. "Besides, I actually do speak French, so, if you're more comfortable speaking in French, you can do so."

"Well, I am more comfortable with it, because it's what I'm used to," Nick said. "But, no, I suppose I need to make an effort. Hard to get used to speaking in English if I never do it."

"Yes, that's true," Sarah said. "Anyway, lets finish our breakfast and then I can tell you some more about Hogwarts, if you like."

With a smile, Nick said, "That'd be great, Aunt Sarah. Dad told me a bit about his own time there and about Ravenclaw."

"Well, I can tell you a bit about two more of the four houses," Sarah said. "Christian was a Hufflepuff and I was a Slytherin, so, I know about both houses."

"That'd be great, thanks."

-o-0-o-

Arriving back in his bedroom, Ryan pulled out his wand and cast a Notice-Me-Not Charm on himself, followed by a Disillusionment Charm. Having lived at Cromwell Hall for the first ten years of his life, he knew many of the house's secrets, including where the numerous hidden passageways were and thus reaching his hand under the mantle of his bedroom fireplace, he found and triggered the small latch. Moments later the entire wall that the fireplace occupied swung open and Ryan made his way into the passageway.

After a few moments of navigating the cramped passage, Ryan found himself in the passage that he knew led into the master bedroom. _**'I'd better make sure it's all clear,'**_ he thought, as he reached up and grabbed the small silver handle which slid aside a panel behind the portrait above the master bedroom fireplace and looked through it, knowing that he was actually looking through the eyes of the man depicted in the portrait. Since his Uncle Charles had married a muggle, all of the moving portraits had been moved to Charles' study, the library, or the portrait gallery, as the moving and talking portraits had freaked out his Aunt Katrina.

Looking into the room, Ryan could see that the room appeared to be empty. He did, however, spot that there was light and a small amount of steam emerging from underneath the door to the bathroom. Closing the spy panel, Ryan moved a couple of feet and pushed the button which would open the panel into the room and entered the room, closing the panel behind him. Crossing the room, the sound of the shower running was obvious as well as the fact that the house-elves had not been up yet to clean the room, as the bed was turned down on both sides, the sheets were very rumpled, and a breakfast tray with two of everything except food on it laid abandoned at the foot of the bed.

The shower water soon turned off and, after a moment, a tall and slender young man who must have been about the same age as Matt walked out of the bathroom clad only in a white bath towel. His hair was damp and was clinging to his forehead, but it was obviously a light brownish blond color when dry.

Ryan watched the young man getting dressed for a few moments, thoroughly enjoying the sight before his eyes. Ryan couldn't help but think that while he was unaware of the fact that his cousin liked guys, he certainly did have good taste. And that's when it happened. Something which Ryan wished hadn't and he tried to stop it, but he failed. He sneezed.

The young man's eyes quickly looked around the room and seeing nobody there he asked, "Who's there?"

"I said, 'Who's there?'" the young man asked a second time, after a few moments when nobody said anything, during which he grabbed his wand from the bedside table and held it up, ready to defend himself if necessary.

Ryan sighed and then said, "No need to be alarmed," as he cancelled the charms that were hiding him from view.

"Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same question."

"I asked you first."

"I'm Ryan Cromwell."

"Oh, Ryan," the man said as he lowered his wand. "You're Matt's cousin from the States, right?"

"Yes, I'm Matt's cousin," Ryan said. "Are you going to tell me who you are?"

"Oh, sorry," the man said. "Name's Wood, Oliver Wood."

"A pleasure to meet you Oliver," Ryan said as he held out his hand and Oliver shook it. "You look rather familiar. You play professional Quidditch, don't you?"

"Yes," Oliver said, instantly lighting up at the mention of Quidditch, "I'm the reserve keeper for Puddlemere United. I only play when the normal keeper gets sick or injured and can't play, but I love it nonetheless."

"I knew I'd seen you somewhere before," Ryan said. "Must have been in a Quidditch magazine. Having been born here, I still followed the British Quidditch circuit despite living in the States. I have subscriptions to a few of the British magazines and must have seen an article about your signing."

"What's your favorite team?"

"It's a tie between the Magpies and Puddlemere actually," Ryan said. "My grandfather was a Puddlemere fan and grandmother is a fan of the Magpies, so I was raised to like both."

Oliver nodded and then asked, "How long were you standing there concealed?"

Ryan just grinned and then said, "Long enough to know that my cousin has extremely good taste for having himself such a gorgeous and well-endowed boyfriend."

Oliver blushed several shades of red at the comment and then asked, "How do you know I'm Matt's boyfriend?"

"Oh please, Oliver," Ryan said. "It doesn't take much to figure it out. I mean, we are in Matt's bedroom and you were showering in his bathroom. The bed is turned down on both sides, the sheets are rumpled, and it's obvious that two people ate breakfast in bed this morning. Of course, the clincher is that I heard the two of you on my way down to breakfast this morning."

"You heard us?"

"Yes, I did," Ryan said still grinning. "I'd wondered if Matt was up yet, meaning awake, but I guess he was up in another way. Or was that you?"

Blushing a shade of red comparable to a Weasley's hair, Oliver, who really didn't want to discuss his sex life with his boyfriend's sixteen-year-old cousin, then said, "Okay, can we change the subject now?"

"Sure," Ryan said, "though I must admit you are quite cute when you blush. I haven't known you that long, but I can certainly see why Matt likes you so much. How long have you been together anyway?"

"Since our fourth year at Hogwarts," Oliver said as his cheeks began returning to normal. "So, almost seven years."

"Wow," Ryan said. "Seven years and Matt has never once mentioned having a boyfriend."

"We've been keeping it a secret."

"Why?"

"Well, at first it was because of Matt's mom," Oliver said. "While the wizarding world has no problem with same-sex relationships, it isn't the same in the Muggle world and Matt's mom would have been furious if she'd found out Matt was gay, so we didn't tell anyone. We got so used to keeping it a secret that we kept it up after she died."

"So, does my grandmother know?" Ryan said.

"As far as I know, no, she doesn't," Oliver said. "And Matt isn't sure if he should tell her or not because he's afraid that she might not accept it."

Ryan burst out laughing at that, prompting Oliver to look at him strangely as he asked, "What? What's so funny?"

"It's just that I thought Matt was smarter than that," Ryan said. "Obviously I was wrong."

Oliver's whole face looked confused, as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Oliver, I'm gay," Ryan admitted. "And grandmother knows about it. Her exact words to me where, 'Ryan, I don't care if you're gay. You could date a llama for all I care - so long as you're happy, that's all I care about."

Oliver grinned and said, "A llama? Do I want to know?"

"Grandmother is a very serious woman," Ryan explained. "But sometimes she shows another side of herself and has a good laugh. As for the llama comment, well, sometimes she has a weird sense of humor." With a grin, he added, "I'm sure that if she'd been the one to overhear you and Matt this morning, she would have had something very interesting to say. Not that I'm complaining, because from what I heard you and Matt were having a great time, but, seriously, you may want to remember the silencing charms next time."

"Yeah, I'll try to remember that," Oliver said, as he blushed again.

"You're cute when you blush, you know."

"I'm taken."

"I know," Ryan said. "I love Matt too much to try and steal his boyfriend. But, stealing and admiring are two very different things and you're hot."

Oliver blushed again and said, "You're complimenting me on purpose aren't you?"

Ryan nodded and said, "Yes, I am, you sexy beast."

"You're incorrigible."

"So I'm told," Ryan said and with a grin he added, "Hot stuff."

Oliver sighed.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

So there's, Part Two of Chapter Three of 'The Knights of the Founders'. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Next chapter, you'll find out which offer of a place to stay for the rest of the summer Harry chose. Where do you think he'll go? The Burrow or the Diggorys? The French in this chapter is compliments of Google Translate, so, I apologize if it's wrong. I've also closed the poll regarding Noah and Harry possibly being a couple now and have the results.

Question: Since Noah and Cedric were stepbrothers and Harry dated Cedric when he was alive, would it be wrong for Noah and Harry to find love with each other?

No - 32

Yes - 5

So, the majority of you who voted clearly feel that it would not be wrong for Noah and Harry to be involved romantically.


	5. A New Place to Call Home

The Knights of the Founders  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and Mpreg

-o-0-o-

Chapter Four:

A New Place to Call Home

-o-0-o-

It really didn't take Harry very long to make up his mind. As much as he loved the Weasleys, life at the Burrow, at least until after Charlie's wedding, sounded like a nightmare. Thus, it was that Harry sent Hedwig out with two short notes. Each thanked his two friends for the offer to stay with them, while one accepted the offer. Thus it was that on the day the Dursleys were due to leave, Harry had all of his worldly goods packed in his trunk, as he waited for Noah and his mother, Amelia, to arrive.

"You better hope they're coming, boy," Vernon said. "You have twenty more minutes and then we're leaving for Heathrow. If they're not here by then..."

"I know, Uncle Vernon," Harry said. "It'll be the streets for me."

"Too right it will," Vernon said, pleased that his worthless freak of a nephew understood how things would work. After a moment of silence, Vernon spotted Dudley coming down the stairs with two suitcases. As he reached the bottom, he glared at Harry and said, "Don't just sit there, boy! Make yourself useful and take Dudley's bags out to the car."

Harry could tell from the tone of his uncle's voice and the glare that in his uncle's opinion, Harry had failed somehow in his duties, since Dudley had been forced to carry his own luggage down the stairs from his bedroom. Doing his best to suppress the sigh, Harry stood up from where he was seated on his trunk and grabbed Dudley's suitcases, before heading out to Uncle Vernon's car. For his part, Dudley followed his cousin out the door and once he was confident that his uncle was out of hearing range, he said, "I'll work on them, Harry. See if I can get them to be nicer to you next summer."

"Dudley, that would be nice," Harry said, "but I don't expect miracles. And that's what your parents treating me better would be. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of you being nice to me."

Dudley smiled. "Yes, I suppose it is a rather foreign concept, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Harry said as he struggled with lifting one of Dudley's suitcases high enough that he could get it into the car. "Damn, Dud, what did you put in this thing? Everything but the kitchen sink?"

"Just a few essentials," Dudley said, not mentioning what those were. "Here let me help you with that."

As Dudley was helping Harry lift the heavy suitcase into the back of Uncle Vernon's car, a sleek, silver BMW pulled up and parked in front of Number Four. Moments later, Noah and Amelia Diggory got out and walked over to where Harry and Dudley were standing on the driveway.

"Hey Harry," Noah said with a smile, before gesturing to his mother, "This is my Mum, Amelia Diggory."

"Hi Noah, and its a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Diggory," Harry said.

"No need to be so formal, Harry," Amelia said. "You can call me Amelia." Spotting Dudley, she asked, "And who is this?"

"My cousin, Dudley Dursley," Harry said.

Before anyone else could say anything, Uncle Vernon came out of the house, carrying a stack of three boxes which obscured his view and thus he didn't see the Diggorys or the car they'd arrived in. It just so happened that Aunt Marge's birthday fell while they'd be on vacation and since she was going with her brother and his family on vacation, the boxes Vernon was carrying were Marge's birthday presents, one from each of them. "Boy! Get your useless arse over here and help me."

Harry visibly flinched at that, which Noah and Amelia noticed, leaving them with no problems in figuring out who Vernon Dursley was talking about. Putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, Noah stopped him from going over to his uncle, before he walked over himself and took the boxes from Vernon, carefully setting them on the ground next to him, before he glared at Vernon and said, "Harry is not a useless arse."

Looking the young man in front of him up and down for a moment, Vernon couldn't help but notice that he was very well dressed in what were clearly high-end designer clothes. Frowning, he asked, "And who might you be?"

"Noah Diggory," Noah said.

Vernon's face paled slightly, as he recognized the name of the family Harry had mentioned he was going to be staying with over the summer. "You're... you're one of them then?"

Coming up behind her son, Amelia nodded and said, "If you mean wizard, then yes, Mr. Dursley. And if I ever hear you speak to your nephew like that again I won't hesitate to turn you into a mouse and feed you to my cat."

"I don't know Mum," Noah said. "From what I've heard he's probably much too foul. There's no need to give poor Salem indigestion."

"You're right, Noah," Amelia said. "I'll just turn him into an ant and then stomp on him."

Noah grinned. "Much better." Over his shoulder, he said, "Yo, Dudley, why don't you make yourself useful and put these boxes in your father's cheap car."

"Cheap?!" Vernon blustered, clearly angry, not only about the insult to his car but also at the threats to use magic on him.

"Compared to mine anyway," Amelia said as she gestured to the BMW parked in front of the house. Looking over at Vernon's car, she added, "Not doing so well, are you, Mr. Dursley? Did you not qualify for the top 5% salesmen's car and had to settle for the company Grenada? And a two-year-old model at that... rather overdue for replacement wouldn't you say?"

Picking up Aunt Marge's gifts, Dudley quickly put them in the car, doing his best to hide his grin at seeing his father put in his place in such a way. Before encountering Dementors, he wouldn't have been grinning, but since that night and having resolved to treat Harry better, he couldn't help but grin at seeing someone calling his father out for treating Harry so badly. Harry, for his part, stood rooted to the spot behind Vernon's car, his eyes wide, because he really wasn't used to anyone standing up to his relatives like this. His enjoyment of this moment, however, was tempered by the fact that he knew that his uncle would not forget being humiliated 'by one of THOSE people' as he would say. Harry almost winced at the punishments he was sure to have to endure next summer.

Turning to Harry, Noah smiled and asked, "Where's your stuff, Harry?"

"In my trunk, in the house," Harry said.

Noah nodded and turned to look at Dudley, who nodded himself and said, "I'll go get it."

"Good boy," Noah said with a grin, as Dudley headed into the house.

Dudley emerged from the house a moment later, dragging Harry's school trunk, which was on wheels, behind him with one hand. He held Hedwig's empty cage in the other, as Harry had instructed his beloved owl to just stay at the Diggorys after she delivered the notes the other day.

Amelia walked over to her car and opened the boot, at which point Dudley loaded the trunk and cage into the clearly magically expanded space, prompting him to think that maybe magic wasn't so bad after all. Turning to Harry, Amelia asked, "Is that all?"

"Yes, Amelia," Harry answered.

"Hmm," Amelia said. She wasn't sure she really liked the idea that everything Harry owned and wanted to take with him for the rest of the summer and the school year to follow fit inside of his school trunk. She was a Charms Master, after all, and could tell just by looking at it that it wasn't magically expanded. Looking over at Harry, she also couldn't help but think that his clothes seemed very worn out and ill-fitting. _**'They look like hand me downs,'**_ Amelia thought. _**'Not sure why he'd be wearing such ratty clothes though, because the Potters would make Amos and I look poor by comparison.'**_

Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts for the moment, she smiled at Harry and asked, "Are you ready to go, dear?"

Harry nodded, which prompted Noah to walk over and sling an arm over Harry's shoulder, as he said, "Well, then let's go, mate." Looking over his shoulder at Vernon, he added, "I'd say it was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Dursley, but my mother taught me that lying is wrong."

Amelia climbed into the driver's seat and rather than getting into the front seat next to his mother as he had been for the trip over, Noah instead climbed into the backseat with Harry. Moments later, the car was driving down Privet Drive, leaving behind a grinning Dudley and a fuming Vernon.

-o-0-o-

Roughly an hour later, the car arrived at the Diggory house. Harry wasn't entirely sure what he'd been expecting, honestly, as the only wizarding home he'd ever seen, beyond Hagrid's hut and the homes in Hogsmeade, was the Burrow. Cedric hadn't gone into much detail about what his house looked like, but that was mostly due to the fact that both Harry and Cedric had considered snogging to be so much more fun and important.

_**'It certainly looks nothing like the Burrow,'**_ Harry thought, as he got out of the car and looked up at the three-story house, made of warm yellow sandstone. Since Amelia had parked the car in front of the garage, they were currently in the backyard. Beds of flowers surrounded the house and Harry couldn't help but grin as he thought of the look of jealousy he was sure would be gracing his Aunt Petunia's face if she saw it. An inviting looking porch extended off the back of the house, with a set of green-padded wicker furniture providing a place to sit down and enjoy a summer evening. There was also a vegetable garden, a greenhouse, a few fruit trees, a good-sized pond, and much to Harry's surprise, what looked like a tire swing.

"Welcome to Diggory House, Harry," Noah said with a grin. "You like it?"

"It's brilliant," Harry answered.

"Well, let's get you inside then," Amelia said. "I'm sure your owl would love to see you."

Harry nodded and moved to collect his trunk and Hedwig's cage from the boot, but Amelia waved him off, "No, no, Harry I'll get this stuff. Noah, why don't you show Harry to where he'll be sleeping?"

"Yes Mum," Noah said, as he led Harry towards the house. Entering the backdoor, Harry realized that they were in the kitchen, which had polished wooden floors and oak cabinets with butcher-block counters. The appliances were all rather old-fashioned looking by modern Muggle standards, but Harry couldn't help but think that they seemed to belong. A table covered by a white and yellow checked tablecloth, and surrounded by six chairs, sat in the center of the room, with a stoneware bowl full of apples resting in the center of the table.

"Bedrooms are on the first floor," Noah said, as he led Harry over to a small hallway off the kitchen where what Harry assumed were the back stairs were located. "Mum and Amos wanted to put you in the guest room, but I convinced them to let you stay in my room." Looking over his shoulder at Harry as they climbed the stairs, he asked, "I hope that's okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"You saw the kitchen," Noah said, as they reached the top of the stairs. "Also on the ground floor are the formal living and dining rooms, the library and Amos' study. This level, as I said, is the family bedrooms and the guest rooms. Cedric and I shared, so, there's actually two guest rooms, plus Mum and Amos' room. All the bedrooms have their own bathrooms."

"And what's on the top floor?"

"Box rooms for storage," Noah answered. "There used to be four bedrooms for household staff up there as well, along with a nursery, but only one of them is still a bedroom. We have two house-elves and they use that room for themselves. The other rooms were converted into a study room for Cedric and me, a game room, and an informal family living room. The nursery is Mum's sewing room now."

Leading Harry along the upstairs hallway, Noah pointed out the door to the master suite, along with the doors to the two guest rooms, and the door that led to the top floor stairwell. Finally, they reached the final door, which Noah pushed open and said, "And here's my room, which will also be yours' for the rest of the summer."

Following Noah in Harry looked around at the room. It was quite a bit larger than what he'd expected, certainly much larger than his bedroom on Privet Drive. In fact, as he looked around, he was pretty sure that his room, Dudley's room, and the guest room that Aunt Marge used when she visited would all fit inside of the room that Noah had at one point shared with Cedric. The room appeared to be split down the middle in terms of decor with one side of the room, obviously Noah's, decorated in Gryffindor red and gold, while the other side was decorated in Hufflepuff's yellow and black. Each side of the room had a large four-poster bed, a bit smaller than the ones at Hogwarts, but still large enough that each one of them would comfortably sleep two people.

There was also a wardrobe and a chest of drawers on both sides of the room, as well as the usual clutter one might expect to find in a teenager's bedroom. Walking over to what would have been Cedric's bed, Harry ran his fingertips over the yellow and black patchwork quilt and smiled. He tried to hold back his tears, as he thought of Cedric growing up in the very room that he was now standing in. Noah remained silent for a moment, as Harry looked around and then said, "I've tried to keep it exactly as Cedric left it. Once I convinced her to let you share with me for the summer, Mum did pack up most of his clothes, to make room for yours, but I saved a few of them."

Walking over to the wardrobe, Harry opened it and hesitantly ran a hand over Cedric's old Quidditch robes, before he brought the sleeve up to his nose and sniffed at it. A sad smile spread across his face as he said, "It still smells like him. How? He's been gone for over a year now."

Noah nodded and answered, "Everlasting Preservation Charms - I cast them on all of his clothes and the bed, too. Sometimes, when I'm really missing him, I'll put on a pair of his pajamas and sleep in his bed. Thanks to the charms, everything still smells like Cedric." With an unsure look on his face, Noah asked, "This isn't going to be too painful for you is it? Sleeping in Cedric's old room, surrounded by his things?"

Harry shook his head, "No, Noah, it's brilliant. Thank you."

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, downstairs in Amos' study, Amelia came into the room to find Amos sitting at his desk, looking through his ledger, as he handled the household accounts. Some of the wealthier people in the wizarding world let the goblins do all of that for them, but the Diggorys, while not hurting by any means, were not rich enough that they could afford to live in the lap of luxury. They lived a very comfortable life, but it had been a bit of a challenge when Amos was younger. His father, Jeremiah Diggory, had made some bad investments that had hurt the family's financial position, which is why the four bedrooms on the top floor of the house were no longer for live-in human staff.

Now nearly twenty years since Jeremiah had passed away, Amos had carefully managed the family's funds to a point where they probably could have afforded to have staff again, but they all agreed that it wasn't really necessary. The two house-elves they had acquired took care of the family quite well and Amos had always had a good head for numbers, so he didn't mind doing his own bookkeeping. In fact, he thought it would have been ridiculous to have the goblins do it for him, because they charged 100 galleons an hour, with a minimum of two hours, for the service. Even if they managed to finish all of your bookkeeping in forty-five minutes, you were still required to pay for two full hours.

Finishing the figures he was in the process of writing when his wife came in, Amos placed his quill in the holder on his desk and looked up, "Hello, darling. Is Noah taking Harry upstairs?"

Amelia nodded, "Yes, he is." She paused here before she said, "Amos, I got the distinct impression that Harry's home life leaves a lot to be desired. His cousin seemed okay, but his uncle. The man was utterly horrible," and she then explained her encounter with Vernon Dursley.

By the time his wife finished speaking, Amos was shaking his head. "Some people shouldn't be allowed to have or raise children."

"What really struck me though is how thin Harry is," Amelia said. "He's practically swimming in his clothes. And speaking of his clothes, they're all very worn out. If I had to guess, they're all hand me downs from his cousin who is about five times larger than Harry and I don't mean in height. He is taller than Harry by about half a foot, but also much, much wider. Honestly, Amos, as bad as this may sound, I think you, me, Noah, and Harry could all fit in the trousers that boy is wearing without them feeling snug."

Thinking back to when he'd met Harry just before the Quidditch World Cup, Amos nodded and said, "Yes, I remember thinking his clothes seemed rather too big for him when we met him and the Weasleys on our way for the portkey to the Cup."

"Leaves me wondering if Harry even knows how wealthy his family is," Amelia said. "The Potters are the epitome of old money, so to see James and Lily's only son dressed so shabbily and looking so thin, I worry for him, Amos, I really do. I think I'd almost be afraid to see whats under those clothes because it wouldn't shock me if his bones were visible through his skin."

"That bad?" Amos asked and his wife nodded emphatically. "Well, if it'll make you feel better, dear, we can take him to see a healer. Assuming he agrees that is."

"Well, I hope he does, Amos," Amelia said. "Because I really do think that Cedric would want us to take care of him."

"Yes, that's true," Amos said, after a moment of quiet reflection. "He would."

-o-0-o-

Later that evening, Amos, Amelia, Noah, and Harry gathered in the dining room for dinner and Amos could immediately see why his wife had been so concerned. The overly large clothes hid Harry's small frame rather well, if you didn't look closely, but if you did it became painfully obvious that Harry was not only small for his age, but clearly hadn't eaten anywhere near as well as the former owner of his clothes. Now it had to be said that the former owner of his clothes had eaten much too well, but that made it all the worse in Amos' mind, because the Dursleys were clearly able to afford food. Dudley clearly had quite a bit of girth on him and Amelia said that Vernon was even heavier than Dudley, so, why was Harry so painfully thin?

Noah and Harry conversed about school through most of dinner, with Amos and Amelia throwing in occasional comments. Finally, just as one the elves was serving dessert, Amos couldn't stay silent any longer and asked, "Harry, my wife and I were wondering if you would consent to seeing a healer."

"A healer? Why?"

"I sense that your home life with the Dursleys wasn't very good," Amelia said as she held up a hand and stopped him from speaking. "Now, I'm not asking for any details. If you choose to share them, that's entirely up to you. However, looking at you, I can't help but think that your small size might be due to years of malnourishment."

Before Harry could say anything, Amos said, "If that's true then there are potions which might be able to correct it, but they're medical potions that need to be taken under healer supervision."

Harry remained silent for a moment, before he asked, "If such potions exist then why didn't Madam Pomfrey ever give them to me? Merlin knows I've been in the Hospital Wing enough times over the years, so, why didn't she ever notice this and give them to me?"

Amos and Amelia shared a look, before Amelia said, "I can't answer that, Harry. I suspect only she'd know the answer to that, but what I do know is that it would set my mind at ease if I knew that you were okay."

Harry looked confused at that statement and asked, "Why? You barely know me."

Amos and Amelia shared another look at that question, before Amos said, "My wife is a very caring woman, Harry. She hates to see anyone who may possibly need help not getting it. We won't force you to do anything but if you'd like to go, we'll take you to a healer and maybe do something about those clothes."

"My clothes?"

"Well, they are rather big, Harry," Noah said. "I mean you and most of the Quidditch team could probably fit in them at the same time."

Harry laughed at that and said, "You're not the first person to say that actually." After a moment of silence, he said, "I'll go to a healer, if only because I'm kind of tired of being the shortest person in my year at school. As for clothes, well, I'll think about it."

Amos and Amelia smiled at that, at which point the four of them all dug into the pie and vanilla ice cream that had been set out for dessert.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.


	6. Teasing

The Knights of the Founders  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books.

Established Pairings: Past Harry/Cedric

Eventual Pairings: Harry/OMC, plus others I choose not to reveal at this time.

Entire Series Warnings: Alternate Universe, Slash, Original Characters, Language, Violence, Pseudo-Incest, Incest, Torture, M/M Sex, M/M/M Sex, and Mpreg

-o-0-o-

Chapter Five:

Teasing

-o-0-o-

The first night that Harry spent at Diggory House was a bit surreal, to be honest. It was without a doubt a much different experience then what he was used to, even when staying at the Burrow with the Weasleys. Of course, Harry attributed this to the fact that the Diggorys, while just as loving as the Weasleys, were a smaller family. And with a smaller family, came the ability to go from one room to another without tripping over anyone else. A feat which from Ron's letter, Harry knew would be next to impossible at the moment. Harry had, however, done a little exploring of the house after dinner and was quite surprised when he was able to go from room to room and not encounter another living soul. That was definitely not something that had ever happened to him at the Burrow.

_**'Of course, if not Ron, then it was always Ginny following me around,'**_ Harry thought. He didn't mind Ron so much, because despite his faults, Ron was his first real friend and thus Harry was willing to forgive far more with Ron than he would with anyone else. Ginny, on the other hand, well, Harry wasn't stupid. He could tell that Ginny was crushing on him and that made him extremely uneasy. Not only because he thought of her like a little sister, but also because he was gay and thus, knew that there was no future for him and Ginny. A fact which he was sure would upset and hurt the girl, as she seemed to have it quite bad for him, especially after the whole Chamber of Secrets fiasco. Hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do, but he didn't see how he could avoid it.

At around eight thirty, Harry met Noah in the games room and they played a few hands of Exploding Snap, before they finally retired for the night at about ten o'clock. Arriving in the bedroom, Noah went over to Cedric's wardrobe and pulled out a pair of pajamas for Harry to wear, who took them almost reverently. Bringing them up to his nose, he smiled when he smelled the unique scent that he'd always associated with Cedric.

While Harry was engrossed with his memories of Cedric, Noah was looking at the other pair of Cedric's pajamas, folded up on a shelf in the wardrobe. Today had been one of those days for Noah where he was especially missing Cedric and having Harry around had made it that much more real. Since Cedric had died, Noah had gotten used to being alone over the summers. He had his mother and stepfather around, of course, but it wasn't the same as having someone his own age around. He had friends who visited, of course, but they were mostly his fellow Gryffindors and thus none of them had really known Cedric.

_**'Normally, I'd put on Ric's pajamas and sleep in his bed when I'm missing him like this,'**_ Noah thought. _**'But, that would be wrong, wouldn't it? I don't want to intrude on Harry. I've had two years around Ric's things, but Harry... I also don't want Harry to think that I'm just using Ric's memory as an excuse to sleep with him.'**_

Noah's conflicting emotions must have shown on his face, because Harry asked, "Noah? Are you okay? You've seemed a little... well, off for the last couple of hours now."

Turning to Harry, Noah smiled and Harry noticed that it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm okay, Harry."

Shaking his head, Harry said, "I know you better than that, Noah, so what's wrong?"

Noah sighed. "Well, it's just that since Cedric died, I've gotten used to being alone over my breaks from Hogwarts. I'm got Mum and Amos, of course, and my friends from school visit from time to time, but none of them really knew Ric. You knew him, however, probably better than anyone. So, talking and spending time with you today has just made me miss him all the more."

"I'm sorry," Harry said. "If my being here is going to be too hard, I can go stay at the Burrow. Ron's brother is getting married, so the house is packed right now until after the wedding, but I'm sure I could deal with it."

Shaking his head, Noah placed his hands on Harry's shoulders and said, "No, Harry, you don't have to go. I like having you here." He smiled at this and said, "I happen to really like you, remember?"

Harry blushed a bit at that and said, "I like you too, Noah, but I'm not sure I'm ready."

"That's okay, Harry, there's no rush," Noah said. "As I've said, if you just want to be friends, that's fine with me. I'll deal with it. So, no more talk about you leaving. I want you here. Mum and Amos want you here. And I know if he was alive, Ric would want you here too."

"Thanks, Noah," Harry said as he pulled him into a hug. Noah was about four inches taller than Harry, thus, he couldn't rest his chin on Noah's shoulder as they hugged, so, he instead turned his face to the side and rested it against it instead. It was then that he spied the second set of pajamas folded up in the open wardrobe. Pulling back, Harry said, "Hey Noah? Being around Cedric's things is a bit, well overwhelming for me. Especially with how everything still smells like him. Do you think, well, if it wouldn't be too hard for you, that you could sleep with me tonight? Just as friends, mind you."

Noah smiled. "I can do that, Harry."

A few minutes later, Harry and Noah were both dressed in Cedric's pajamas, one set yellow and the other black, and snuggled under the quilt of his bed. Noah mumbled, _**"Nox,"**_ to turn off the lights, before settling down on the pillow. All was silent for a little while, before Harry whispered, "Noah?"

"Yes, Harry?" Noah asked, his tone equally soft.

"Could you, um, hold me?" Harry asked, glad that it was dark and that Noah hopefully wouldn't see just how red his cheeks had gotten at that question.

Moving over and closing the distance between them, Noah wrapped his arms around Harry's smaller form and said, "Like this?"

Harry nodded and felt a tear forming in the corner of his eye. "Yeah, just like that," he said with a contented smile as he remembered just how many times that Cedric had held him exactly the same way. He knew, of course, that Noah wasn't Cedric. Technically speaking they weren't even related to each other, except for the piece of paper that declared Noah's mother married to Cedric's father. But, in the dark, surrounded by Cedric's unique scent, Harry, could imagine that it was his beloved holding him.

After a few more moments, Harry whispered, "Noah, is it wrong that I'm imagining that you're Ric? I mean, I know you aren't, of course, but in his bed, surrounded by his scent..."

"It's okay, Harry," Noah said, as he quickly pecked Harry on the right temple. "I understand how you feel. To be honest, I can't help but feel particularly close to Ric like this myself. We may not have been lovers, but we were certainly friends. Very good friends, and we sometimes did sleep together like this. Especially when our parents first got married. I was only ten and I sometimes had nightmares. Ric would always have me climb into bed and hold me until I fell asleep, safe in his arms."

"Just good friends?" Harry asked, a couple minutes later. "I thought you thought of Ric like your brother."

"Well, I did on some level, I suppose," Noah said, after taking a moment to think about it, during which Harry had almost thought that maybe Noah had drifted off to sleep when he didn't say anything immediately. "Ric and I were definitely close and we'd certainly bonded, but, I don't know. I really loved him, but there was always something in the back of my mind which prevented me from placing him completely in the brother category."

Harry grinned, "Well, he was the Hufflepuff Hottie - basically sex on legs. Can't say as I really blame you for not thinking of him completely like a brother."

Noah was flabbergasted that Harry had figured that one out. He was right, of course, because if Noah was honest, he knew the reason that he'd never totally thought of Cedric as his brother was because he was attracted to him. He knew they would never be together, especially after Cedric and Harry started dating towards the end of Harry's third year. "You figured that out did you? That I liked Ric perhaps a bit more than a brother really should like their brother?"

"Yeah, Noah, I did," Harry said. "Although to be honest, Ric suspected that you had feelings for him. He mentioned it to me once and you know, he even said that those feelings weren't entirely one-sided."

"What?" Noah asked. "You're kidding me, right?"

Shaking his head, Harry said, "No, I'm not. Ric liked you, too, perhaps a little more than a brother should, but I don't see anything wrong with it, personally. As I told Ric when we talked about it, you were only stepbrothers and it's not like you were raised from birth to think of each other as siblings. I know some people would still say that such thoughts were incestuous and wrong, but honestly, I think they'd be being narrow-minded. I mean, it's not like two blokes have to worry about pregnancy, so, honestly what's the big deal? And even if they could, it wouldn't have made much difference in Ric's and your case since you were only related on paper."

"That's a remarkably mature, if unpopular, opinion, Harry."

"Well, Ric always did say I was mature for my age," Harry commented. "He figured it was a result of facing near death situations so many times. Anyway, Ric never told you because he was happy with me and also because he was worried he was wrong. That perhaps he'd misread the signs and that you didn't feel the same. He didn't want to risk losing your friendship."

Noah was quiet for a moment, before he said, "Wow, I never suspected that Ric might actually return some of the feelings I had for him. I never told him because I thought he'd be disgusted with me. I was also worried about how my mum and Amos would react, because let's face it, I don't think people who get married ever really plan on romance happening between their children from past marriages. Especially when they're both boys. But Ric, well, he was hard not to love."

"You don't have to tell me that," Harry said, before yawning.

"Well, I think we've had enough revelations for one night," Noah said, as he fought back a yawn himself. "We should probably get some sleep. Goodnight, Harry."

"Night, Noah," Harry whispered, as he snuggled closer to Noah and closed his eyes. Noah, meanwhile, tightened his hold on Harry a bit, resting his chin on top of the younger boy's head, and closed his own eyes. Within minutes, they were both sound asleep.

-o-0-o-

The next morning, Noah and Harry both woke up at about the same time. Letting Harry use the ensuite first, Noah got out of bed and walked over to his wardrobe, pulled out some clothes and walked over to his bed. Setting aside an outfit for himself, he then grabbed a pair of black trousers and quickly cast a charm to shorten the legs by a couple of inches and take in the waistline a bit. He then resized a red button-down shirt, before repeating this process on a white ribbed undershirt and a pair of red boxers. It took him all of about two minutes and thankfully, Harry was still in the bathroom while he was doing this, because Noah planned to tell a little white lie.

A few minutes later, Harry emerged from the bathroom, having put Cedric's pajamas back on following his shower and said, "Bathroom is all yours, Noah."

"Thanks, Harry," Noah said, as he grabbed the clothes he'd just resized and said, "Hey Harry, while I was going through my wardrobe I found these clothes. They don't really fit me anymore, but I think they'd probably fit you better than your cousin's old clothes."

Harry was momentarily speechless, before he grinned and said, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Noah said. "Knowing Mum, she'll make sure we go shopping and get you your own clothes very soon, but until then, I figure you can wear some of my old things. At least you won't be swimming in the stuff." Heading for the bathroom door, Noah turned and said, "Oh and Harry, if you want to borrow a pair of socks, they're in the top drawer on the left. I've seen your socks and they don't really look very comfortable."

"They're not, really," Harry admitted. "They're wool, so, they're quite itchy. Thankfully, since they were Dudley's they're also stretched out enough that they don't really touch my legs. My feet, however, are another story."

"Well, I don't own any wool socks," Noah said. "They're not all that popular in the wizarding world, honestly. Even among witches and wizards who live in colder climates, wool is not that popular for wizarding clothes as a general rule, but then, the extra warmth isn't really needed when you can cast a Warming Charm on yourself."

Harry nodded. "That's true, I suppose, but we're both underage remember?"

"Surely somebody has told you by now that doesn't really matter?" Noah asked. "I mean, yes, at your Aunt and Uncle's house, it would. But here? You can use all the magic you want because underage or not, you won't get in trouble with the Ministry. They'll detect it, but they won't be able to tell if it was you, me, my Mum or Amos who cast the spell."

"Really?" Harry asked. Nobody had ever told him that, honestly, and he'd never seen any of the Weasleys using magic at the Burrow while they were underage. Even Fred and George had, as far as Harry had seen, refrained from using magic at home before they turned seventeen.

Nodding, Noah said, "Yes, really, Harry. In wizarding households, the Ministry expects to detect magic and with adult witches and wizards in the house, they won't send warning letters to anyone because they'll just assume it was the adults using the magic whenever they detect it. The belief is that it's up to the parents to police their own children and make sure they don't do magic. Some are stricter than others, of course, but Mum and Amos have let me use magic anytime I want since I was fourteen."

Harry's mouth dropped open at that and Noah grinned. "When you're done catching flies, Harry, you might want to get dressed. And try a spell if you don't believe me, but I swear to you on my honor as a Gryffindor that I'm telling the truth."

Noah went into the bathroom at this point, grinning one last time as he saw the look on Harry's face when he turned to close the door behind him. It took a minute or so before Harry shook off the shock he'd felt at what Noah had just told him. How is it that nobody had ever mentioned that to him in the last six years? Even Cedric had never said anything, but then, in retrospect, Harry imagined that the topic had simply never come up. They'd struck up a friendship during Harry's third year, after Cedric had come to visit Harry in the Hospital Wing after the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game that the Dementors had interrupted. By the end of that year, friendship had turned into romance.

Cedric had then visited Harry several times that summer, usually meeting up at the small playground over on Magnolia Road. These 'dates' usually just consisted of talking as they swung on the swings, but usually by the end, they'd sneak off to a private, concealed corner for some snogging. Harry never thought to ask Cedric how he was getting from his home to Little Whinging, as he always came alone. He would have only been sixteen at that point, so, Harry didn't think he'd been Apparating, but having never asked he didn't know for sure. But then, he'd just been so happy to see him that he never thought to ask.

By the time of the Quidditch World Cup, Harry and Cedric were head over heels in love with each other and after the game, they met up and Cedric took him to the Diggory tent. Amos, Amelia, and Noah were off celebrating Ireland's victory so they'd had the tent all to themselves. So, what started out as some chatting and cuddling quickly progressed to snogging, which led to Cedric taking Harry into the bedroom he was sharing with Noah. Not long after that, Harry and Cedric each lost their virginity to the other and they fell asleep, naked, in each other's arms, with the bed sheets only just protecting their modesty. That's how Noah had found them two hours later and was also how he found out about their relationship. Up until that point, Noah hadn't even known that Cedric was gay, let alone dating Harry Potter.

Shaking his head, Harry stripped out of Cedric's pajamas and pulled on the red boxers that Noah had left for him. Harry knew that most people would find the idea of wearing somebody else's old underwear to be gross, but Harry was used to it. All of his clothes - and that included underclothes - had once belonged to Dudley, after all, because the Dursleys refused to spend any more then they absolutely had to on their nephew. However, since one of Harry's tasks since he'd turned five was doing the laundry, he made sure that whenever he was given more of Dudley's old clothes to wear that they were very well washed before he put them on. Of course, hygiene hadn't been the only reason to run Dudley's old clothes through the wash several times, because Harry had also been trying to shrink them a bit.

Of course, as Dudley got older and bigger, the old clothes he was getting kept getting larger and larger and Harry had resigned himself to the fact that he'd never be able to get them to shrink enough that they wouldn't be hanging off of him. As he got older, though, a part of him was thankful that the clothes were so large because they did a pretty good job of hiding just how scrawny he really was. It also provided plenty of room for Harry to pad himself a bit. He'd often take one of Dudley's shirts and wrap it around his waist, for example, which usually added a couple of inches to it.

This, of course, had multiple uses in that it hid the worst of his small frame from his teachers, because he knew the Dursleys wouldn't be happy if one of his teachers called Child Protective Services because they thought Harry was being starved to death. Besides that, however, it had also helped the clothes to fit better and provided a little extra padding which dulled the blows from Dudley and his gang whenever Harry couldn't outrun them when they were Harry Hunting. Thinking back to his recent interactions with Dudley, Harry had to admit that was one aspect of his life that he definitely wouldn't mind leaving in the past.

Harry had just finished getting dressed when the bathroom door opened and Noah emerged. Only unlike Harry, who had put Cedric's pajamas back on before coming out into the bedroom, Noah had opted to come out wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist, with the one he'd used to dry his hair hanging around his neck. At five feet, eleven inches tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and the beginnings of a six pack, Noah was certainly a handsome specimen. Harry averted his eyes when he felt a blush creep up on his cheeks and his cock twitch as his thoughts turned decidedly dirty as he thought about where the sparse trail of hair on Noah's abs led, after it disappeared under the towel.

Noah noticed the blush that rose on the younger boy's cheeks and how he'd quickly averted his eyes. Grinning, Noah walked over to his bed and turning his back on Harry, he took the towel from his shoulders and made a little show of running it through his hair one final time, before tossing it aside. Of course, his hair was already mostly dry by that point, so, all it had really done was give it an extremely tousled look. Sensing that Harry was watching him, he decided to continue the show by dropping his towel and allowing it to slide down his legs into a heap on the floor, leaving his bare ass on full display for Harry.

Harry's eyes widened at this, but he didn't say anything, as his mind was completely unable to form anything even remotely resembling a sentence by this point as he took in Noah's naked body. And so, he simply watched in silence as Noah grabbed an undershirt and put his arms through the sleeves before pulling it slowly over his head and then just as slowly down his torso. _**'The bloody git knows I'm watching,'**_ Harry thought, finally becoming capable of coherent thought as he realized what Noah was doing. _**'So, he's giving me a strip tease, only in reverse.'**_

Once Noah put his shirt on, making sure to pull it down a lot slower than he normally would have, he grabbed his socks and deciding that he wanted to keep his ass on display for Harry, he raised his left leg, bending it at the knee and resting it on the bed, before he bent over a bit and began pulling a sock over his toes, just as unhurriedly as he had put on his shirt. If he bent a little more than necessary and thus stuck out his ass a bit, well, all the better.

Harry was as hard as a rock by this point, because while he didn't really feel that he was ready for another relationship at this point, he could still recognize a hot guy when he saw one. And Noah definitely fit that description to a T. As Harry watched Noah ever so leisurely pulling on his socks, taking much longer than was necessary to do so and sticking his naked butt out, Harry would have been lying if he said he wasn't half-tempted to put his hand in his pants and start jerking himself off. Especially when Noah shifted enough that Harry caught a glimpse of his balls hanging between his legs, along with what he could see of Noah's own erection.

_**'Well, he's certainly enjoying teasing me, of course, so am I,'**_ Harry thought, as he continued to watch Noah's every move, his eyes transfixed as he did his best to commit every second of this to memory. He had no intention of jerking off at that moment, because he didn't feel comfortable doing that in front of someone who wasn't his boyfriend. He knew that Noah wanted to be his boyfriend, but until that actually happened - if it happened - Harry would not jerk off with Noah in the room. He did, however, grin as he thought about the fun he'd have the next time he took a shower and he replayed this scene in his head.

With his socks finally on, Noah decided to prolong things just a bit longer and thus rather than grabbing his underwear and beginning to put them on, he instead grabbed the golden colored silk button down shirt that he'd grabbed for himself to wear. Pulling his left arm through the sleeve at a snail's pace, he flexed his arms a bit, showing off his biceps, as he reached around his back with his right arm and began to put it through the appropriate sleeve. Once this was done, leaving the shirt bunched up around his lower back, Noah began to ever so slowly and deliberately inch it up his back, flexing his arms as he did so. He also wiggled his ass a few times for good measure.

_**'If it wasn't for the fact that he's giving me excellent material the next time I jerk off,'**_ Harry thought, as he adjusted his trousers to give his raging hard on a bit more room, _**'I'd have to kill him.'**_ He pointedly ignored the voice in his head that told him that nobody was making him watch this. He could have left the room at anytime, but then, why in Merlin's name would he do that? He might not be ready for a relationship but he wasn't dead. He was a teenage boy with raging hormones that were all screaming at him to drop his pants and put Noah's gorgeous ass to good use. Unfortunately for his hormones, Harry was much too good of a person to grab someone from behind and have his way with them without making sure they actually wanted to do it.

After finally getting his shirt on, leaving it unbuttoned for the moment, Noah moved to pick up his underwear, but paused as his hand touched the red cotton of the boxers he'd taken from his wardrobe. _**'Not nearly sexy enough,'**_ he thought to himself, as he closed his eyes, concentrated and attempted a bit of wandless magic. He'd practiced it before and managed a few simple spells, so, he hoped this would work. Opening his eyes, he grinned and said, _**'Perfect.'**_ His spell had worked and what had moments earlier been a pair of red cotton boxers was now a pair of red bikini briefs. He'd never attempted a wandless transfiguration before, but he had to admit he was very pleased with the result.

Taking the underwear in his hands, Noah bent over so that he was doubled over and lifted his left foot just far enough off the floor that he could slip it into the small cotton undergarment, before repeating the motion with his right foot. He wanted to start as close to the floor as possible, after all, so that he could make a show of slowly and seductively pulling them up little by little over his muscular legs.

_**'Forget the next time I jerk off,'**_ Harry thought, as he burned this event into his memory. _**'He's giving me enough material for the next two or three months.'**_

A few agonizing minutes later, Noah finished pulling the confining material up and did his best to adjust his own raging cock inside the material. He realized now that perhaps the bikinis hadn't been his best decision. Catching a side-long glimpse of himself in the mirror on the door of his wardrobe he could see that he looked quite sexy in them, but they were rather limiting in terms of space for his fully erect cock. _**'Oh well, I'll deal with it,'**_ he thought, as he caught a glimpse of Harry's face in the mirror. _**'It's worth it for that look alone.'**_ Noah grinned. _**'Did he just lick his lips?'**_

Harry had, in fact, just licked his lips. This was definitely one of the most erotic moments of his life so far. Oh he'd had plenty of them with Cedric, but since his death, they'd been very few and far between. Clearing his mind of thoughts of Cedric, however, as he felt a little strange thinking about his dead boyfriend while watching said boyfriend's stepbrother performing a reverse strip tease, Harry instead concentrated on what Noah was doing now. He'd bent over again and was repeating what he'd down with his underwear with his navy blue trousers, pulling them up his legs so slowly you could barely discern any movement at all.

Speaking of movement, however, as Harry watched he realized that Noah, still bent over, his head down, was turning around to face him as he pulled his trousers up. _**'Oh Merlin,'**_ Harry thought. _**'He's going to turn around and let me see what his cock looks like in those sinfully tight and small bikinis he's wearing. Yes!'**_

Finishing his slow turn around, Noah began to pull up his trousers a bit faster, but still quite slow. Straightening up as he pulled them up past his knees, he finally looked at Harry and grinned wide, as he spoke aloud for the first time since emerging from the bathroom. "Enjoying the show, Harry?"

Gesturing to his crotch, which looked rather painfully swollen inside of the shrunken trousers Noah had given him, he asked, "What do you think?"

"I think you're definitely enjoying it," Noah said, as he finally finished pulling his trousers all the way up. Before he could move to begin buttoning up the first of the button fly, however, Harry stepped forward and pushed Noah's hands away, as he slowly buttoned them himself. Noah grinned but remained silent as Harry continued his task. When he finished, he moved a bit closer and said, "That was so hot, so, you get a prize."

With that, Harry leaned forward and gave Noah a quick peck on the lips. Noah, however, obviously would have liked something a bit longer, as he asked, "Is that all I get?"

"For now, yes," Harry said. "Time will tell what the future holds."

"You are so evil, Harry."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I'm evil? This coming from the guy who just performed a reverse strip tease?"

Noah couldn't really say anything about that, and it showed on his face, which prompted Harry to just nod and say, "Come on, Diggory. Let's get downstairs and get something to eat. I'm starving."

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

And there's Chapter Five. I hope you're enjoying the story thus far. By this point in the original, the Hogwarts school year had already started, but I think I'm going to postpone that a little and develop some of the characters a bit more thoroughly than I did originally. As usual, comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome.


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